The Forgotten
by NaelaNightshade
Summary: Entering the Vytal Festival in the prestigious Beacon Academy, many people come to watch the event unfold. More so than others. A woman by the name of Silver enters the school grounds. Thus begins the story. The story of Silver... and the Forgotten.
1. Remembering Beacon

" _Mother! Mother, help us!" The sounds of crying and pain erupted from the fires that threatened two girls. Their mother was helpless, unable to even lift her head to look them in the eye. Their mother cried and screamed for their release; they would not answer nor look at her._

 _The girls held on to each other, praying for a miracle. Praying that there would be some way to get out of the fiery cage that contained them. The elder of the two held the younger close, the younger gripping onto her elder sister, crying in her chest. She feared she would die. Her elder sister hushed her little sister's tears away. "I will protect you, don't you worry." She said this like a chant. Like a prayer for something to hold onto._

 _The mother was tied against the tree, her captures were getting a sick pleasure of making the mother watch her daughters die, slowly and painfully. Searing the sounds of their cries in her mind before they killed her. It was the way they would torture their kind. The mother screamed and pleaded; they had killed her beloved husband, she couldn't let them take her daughters too. Desperate, the mother used all of her strength….._

* * *

 _Beep, Beep, Beep._

Groaning, a woman woke from the dream she had. She shut off her alarm, wanting to break it. She suppressed that desire, she did it every morning.

Getting up from her bed, a knock on her door was heard.

"Go away!" She groaned. She didn't even get the chance to try to dress before the door opened. But she did have the time to cover her messy hair with a hat.

"Honestly, it's past noon and we're almost there." A woman with white hair up in bun, excluding her bangs, nagged her.

"Winty, it's 12:01. It _is_ noon." She nagged back to her old friend. Winter Schnee. A specialist in the Atlesian Military's Special Operations unit. As well as a member of the famous Schnee family, known for their dust company and it's corrupt background.

"Well, Silver. If you were a part of the military you would've been up by now." Winter retorted

"Ah, but I'm _not_ " Silver pointed out as she pulled out a few items of clothing that she was going to change into. "Now can you get out? So I can change?"

"Regular clothing?" Winter questioned Silver's choice of attire.

"Yeaaah. What of it?"

"You're performing today aren't you?"

She shook her head, "Nah. Tomorrow. Hitching a ride with you would be beneficial and faster for me. So that's what I did." She stuck her tongue out in a cutesy manner.

Silver was a professional performer under the name of Silverstream. Nothing different with her name, but it was once a nickname another old friend has once given her. Her previous performance was in Atlas for her Remnant tour, now her final performance, and last performance for a very long time was to be in Vale for the Vytal Festival. She could barely hold her excitement. She always loved the Vytal Festival. She followed it even when she graduated. But what excited her even more was going back to her alma mater, Beacon Academy, where the festival was officially being held.

"Glad I could be your chauffeur," Winter said sarcastically.

"Aww thank you!" Silver ignored the sarcasm in Winter's voice.

Winter rolled her eyes and left her room.

"Finally," Silver whispered to herself before changing into her usual attire. After dressing she put on her headpiece to cover the cat ears she usually hid. She, herself, was a Faunus. The species who share traits with animals. The species that was considered inferior to the society they lived in. The species that fought for the same rights as the humans. But all of the Faunus were detested for the actions of a radical group called the White Fang. Because of this group's actions, many Faunus were hated even if they weren't in the group themselves. This has caused the group to be hated by their own kind. It was a cycle of hatred that could never be stopped.

After dressing as she did every day, she walked out of her room and noticed that the ship had already been landed.

 _How long was I in my room thinking?_ She had no idea.

Leaving the ship, she noticed a large amount of people standing around, as if they were crowding something, or someone. Examining what was going on she noticed that no one was in the center of it all. Had she missed something?

"Excuse me," she asked a female deer Faunus that stood close by her, "What was going on here?"

The faunus was excitable, practically giggling the whole time. Silver almost regretted asking her, "A huge fight was going on, between two huntsmen! It was sooo cool! But the headmaster had to break them up."

Silver wondered who the two huntsmen could be. She knew that Winter was here due to work reasons, that's one suspect. But Winter was always calm and collected and kept her emotions in check. But Silver also knew that she could be hot-headed. So it was possible that Winter lost her cool. But she only did that around one person.

 _If he's here… then it would be more than possible._

She smiled to herself and continued moving on, looking around her alma mater. Nothing about the place had changed since she last been there. Beacon Academy had brought her to her friends that had lasted up to this point. She even remembered where she resided in the dorms. She was tempted to go and see if they changed the dorm rooms, but she understood a person's, a group's privacy more than anything.

"What _are_ you doing?" A familiar voice echoed the empty hallway.

Smiling, Silver turned around to see Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon Academy. "I could say the same thing to _you_ , Ozzie." Silver gave these stupid nicknames to almost everyone she knew. To her, it was a sign of endearment and just how much she cares for them. They could hate their nickname, but they would never be able to escape from it. Not when Silver was concerned. And she loved her little nicknames for them, because they sounded so stupid sometimes. Thus, her stupid nickname became… _Silly_.

Ozpin took a sip of his coffee from the cup he held in one hand, "I was told that an unknown, non-student, was entering the _student_ dormitories. I came to investigate it myself after an interesting affair went on in my office."

"You wanted to leave the awkward situation, huh?"

"You know me so well," Ozpin chuckled, then returned to the problem at hand. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"I wanted to talk a trip down memory lane," the memories surged through her. Her and her team chasing a runaway cat. Them racing to their room. Her team and their rival team spending time together studying. Silver doing silly cartwheels in the middle of the hallway, just because she could.

Even coming back to her room…. alone….

"Well, how about I join you then?" Ozpin stood beside Silver, smiling.

They walked together down the hallway, then moved their way out of the dorms to the courtyard. Nothing seemed different about this either, she thought. It was all the same when she was a student here in Beacon.

"Oz, may I ask you something?"

"Hm?"  
"Why is Ironass in charge of security? Better yet, why is his entire fleet here?" Her eyes narrowed and Ozpin knew she meant business. Silver wasn't in the military, but she was still a Huntress, she still cared about the safety of Remnant's citizens. She still protected them when they needed it.

"James… cares. I know you and he don't very much get along. But he's doing what he thinks is right."

"And that means putting him in charge of security? WIth _that_ outside?" She was becoming furious. "Showing that much manpower is gonna frighten the citizens, the students. 'Who are we fighting?' Is what they'll think. James 'I-think-I'm-a-man' Ironass is going to interrupt the peace we have."

Ozpin looked at her with seriousness and dread," It's already being disturbed."

"What?!" Silver knew nothing of what was happening in Remnant, more importantly, in Vale. Her tour had taken her so much of her time that she barely had enough time to herself to ask, 'Is the peace being maintained?' She knew nothing of Torchwick, of the White Fang's movements. Nothing. As if she had been in a year long coma.

So he filled her in about everything. Roman Torchwick had been getting help from the White Fang for obtaining dust. An infiltration of Beacon's main computer during the dance. A team of students taking it upon themselves to apprehend the criminal as well as their success in it. Roman being in Ironwood's custody. Silver was not amused or happy about that part. The Grimm invasion in a nearby town. And the recent discussion in his office not too long ago. The only part he left out was Qrow's arrival.

She took everything in, assessing the information that was given to her. Ozpin didn't go into detail as to who the team of students were, and she didn't care. What puzzled her was why the White Fang would allow a human like Torchwick to even be _near_ them. It didn't make sense to her. And the one pulling the strings is here, in Beacon, for the festival. This really put a damper on things, and her mood pertaining to her favorite time of the year.

"Wait, why wasn't I invited to this meeting?" She asked. Ozpin smiled at her silliness.

"I didn't expect you to be here until tomorrow. Your manager told me that she would need a day to recover from exhaustion. But it seems to me that you're fine."

"I wanted to surprise you~" Silver winked. "Besides, I thought that if I had a day to myself, I would give a better performance for the festival. You know how much I love it."

Oz just smiled. They continued their way around the school campus, from the classrooms to the cafeteria. Their last stop was his office.

"Being a headmaster suits you, Ozzie." She watched him sit at his desk with the coffee still in hand.

"You think so?"

The silver haired woman nodded and looked out the large window that oversaw the school grounds. "You were always the type of person to guide others to the light. A natural born leader. You never discriminate and are quite lively around students. Being a headmaster was what you were meant to do. At least, that's how I see it."

Ozpin was deeply moved by Silver's choice of words to describe the type of person he was. She tried to see the good in people, just as he had. But at times, it seemed that she couldn't do so when it came to Ironwood. They had been butting heads forever, seeing different views upon certain things. Just as Qrow and Winter had. Ozpin knew this well, and said nothing of it. Simply say out of their way and let them deal with it themselves.

"That conflicts with the choices I made a long time ago…"

Silver fiddled with a thread of her own thick long hair, "yeah, well… We cannot change the past… But we can make our future."

He couldn't argue with that. They both knew that the other had been through so much on their own. Making their own mistakes, going through their own terrible troubles. The burden that they felt on their shoulders would always continue, possibly never ending. They took solace in the knowledge that they were not alone in their despair.

Silver's bangs moved in front of her view, making her push them back. "Well, it was interesting seeing you again, Ozzie. And I'm really glad we got to catch up." She walked away from the window to be in front of Ozpin's desk. He smiled, deeply pleased with being able to talk to her like this again. It was refreshing to see a familiar face after all this time without the 'saving-Remnant' reason. She was here simply because she wanted to. Well that, and it was a part of her tour.

"It was really nice to see you as well. Thank you for the little… _surprise_ "

She gave one last wink before leaving


	2. Reunion for Two

Silver walked back to downtown Vale, the team battles of the day were done. It didn't bother her that she didn't get the chance to see the students, newer and old, in action. She got to see her old life and that, in itself, held great value to her.

She noticed a cafe and decided to take a step inside. Thankfully it was still open despite it being so late. She was then greeted by a nice, elderly couple.

"Have a seat where you'd like, dear, and I'll take your order soon." The elderly woman spoke. She sounded so frail and sweet, it reminded Silver of the old lady who would sell her bread when she was a little girl.

Silver sat at a booth, just near the window, looking at the outside to watch the people walk on by. Continuing their lives in peace or, according to Ozpin's report, what seemed to be peace.

"What will it be, Miss?" The elderly woman came by, surprising Silver just a little.

"Some herbal tea would be nice, please."

"Of course. Coming right up!"

Silver watched the old woman retreat into the back of the cafe before returning to watch the people outside. Many different kinds of people were there, people from all corners of Remnant, Faunus and humans alike. Some were students and others were regular citizens that relied on the Huntsmen for their protection against the Grimm. Each of them had their own story to tell, and each of their individual stories fascinated her. One is shaped into the person they are by the experiences they had. That was something she deeply believed in.

The elderly woman came back and set the tea on the table, the steam flowing up into the air from a tiny teacup. The silver haired woman took a sip, she found it absolutely divine. From the taste of the herbs to its temperature. It was little things like this that made life worth living.

Suddenly, a tail swiped her teacup from her hands to the window. "My tea…" she whined. A split second afterwards, she grabbed the tail and its owner yelped, her eyes never leaving the spilled tea. A male, she deduced, and pulled the tail back towards her and glared at the faunus before her. He was a tan-skinned with short spiky hair, wearing two red wrist bracers and an open loosed-collared jacket with no shirt underneath. She noticed nothing else but that, her mild fury took over her thoughts.

Her sweet-faced, devil incarnate look emerged, scaring the poor guy."How are you going to pay for this?" She spoke, "With your life? I think you're life." She continued on, and the monkey faunus was becoming more and more scared. Her face had no indication of her anger, it was the atmosphere that practically suffocated the poor boy.

"I-I'm sorry, lady! The tail kinda has a mind of its own!" He tried to give himself an excuse.

She was not buying it whatsoever, "Then maybe if I cut it, it will stop bothering people." His face turned from a startle to a truthful, personal fury, believing she was purposefully talking about his faunus heritage. She was not.

"Just because I'm a Faunus, doesn't mean-"

"Sun!" A female voice called for him, "what in dust's name is going on?" A black-haired girl, around Sun's age came into Silver's view. She couldn't see her face, but she did seem familiar. Sun replied to her, explaining what had happened not too long ago.

"Dust, Sun." She turned to Silver and quickly added, "I'm really sorry miss for-"  
"Blake?" Silver cut off the young girl, who was apologizing on her friend's behalf. She let go of the boy's tail and focused on the girl before her.

Blake's eyes widened as she realized who she was speaking to, "A-Aunt Silver…"

Sun looked between the two of them, confused. His expression grew more confused as Silver glomped Blake. "Oh, my little Blakey! My little kitten! I've missed you so much!" Not even Blake could escape from Silver's nicknames. Blake hugged her back, tears close to emerging from her eyes, "I've missed you too, Auntie."

Silver released her niece from the hug and took a step back to take a closer look at her. She had grown so much… Her hair grew down to her waist, her eyes the same amber color she remembered a long time ago. She grew taller, not close to Silver's height, a little less than a foot, but taller than she was. Silver noticed something in particular, "you're wearing the ribbon…" the same ribbon that Silver gave to her on her 6th birthday. What made things interesting to Silver was that Blake wore it in the form of a bow, same as once Silver did.

"Oh, yeah." Blake's face grew red from embarrassment. Blake had idolized her aunt, she even adopted the idea of being known for _who_ you are than _what_ you are. Silver was a major role in what made Blake, Blake in her earlier years.

The three of them sat down in the booth Silver occupied. Sun had repaid Silver by buying her a new cup of tea, it was as equally exquisite and Silver did not hesitate to compliment the old couple on their tea skills. Just for such a compliment, the elder woman gave an entire pot of tea for the three of them. Half-priced. They still had to make a living somehow.

They caught up, talking about how Blake's life went after Silver left as a Huntress. At first it was terrible things, killing humans for the sake of the White Fang. Losing a part of herself each and every time she was sent onto a mission. Then the story became lighter, how Blake met Ruby from her exploding on campus. Weiss's bitchy tone pissing Blake off and eventually revealing her connection to the White Fang. Silver sat and listened, sipping on her tea with interest to her niece's story.

"This team of yours, I'd love to meet them. What are their full names? I might know their parents."

"Really? Well there's Weiss Schnee, Yang Xiao Long and our team leader Ruby Rose."

Silver's heart dropped at the mention of all of their names. Oh yes, Silver knew the parents of those girls. She knew each of them very well.

"They all sound very.. interesting girls."

"Many people are at Beacon."

"Heh. Very true."

They sat and talked for another hour or so before the two students left to go back to their dorms. Silver was slightly sad to see them leave, but she knew she would see them again.

After they left, she too, took her leave after paying the couple more than what was needed. The elderly couple's eyes widened at the amount of lien she had left them. They had tried to give her back the leftover lien, but Silver refused it and said 'for the wonderful hospitality that I had been given'. They were ever so grateful.


	3. Swan Song

" _Listen here, little kitten. Grimm are our enemies, yet we must also show them the proper respect for giving us the strength to protect the weak. Understanding is how peace can be obtained, the path of violence… is Grimm. We are here. We are Xander." A man told the little girl that sat with him, watching the Grimm interact with one another. So close yet so far away._

 _The man's hair was a deep red and his eyes a soft green. It reflected his personality perfectly, 'The Gentle Giant'. Hair as red as fire to keep away the darkness that threatened many, yet the soft green eyes that would protect even the tiniest creature. The little girl continued to watch the creatures of Grimm, silent as she always was. Everyday her emotions would be buried, hidden away from all._

" _Why must we fight Grimm, if the path of violence is an unpleasant one?" She asked._

 _The young man's face turned grim, "Life isn't so black and white, little one." He looked over to the confused child before grinning, "Come. We have the peace to uphold."_

* * *

 _Beep. Beep. Beep._

Another groan, another new day. Silver's nights were usually like this. It really didn't matter to her, she had more things to worry about these nights.

She got up, stretching her arms and legs before showering to wake herself up. It was the best way to go. When she got out, she didn't wear her usual attire, but doned on a shirt that exposed her belly and arms, a long skirt with slits in four different directions and a large veil that covered and hid her Faunus heritage. Accented with silver bracelets around her wrists and ankles. A traditional dancer outfit.

She added an additional veil over her face to keep her identity a secret then a blue hood for when she makes her way to the stadium, the place she was to perform. She performed thousands of times before, and none of them made her as nervous as this one was making her. It was her final performance, not to mention the Vytal Festival. No way in Grimm's Nest did she want to mess it up for her favorite event.

"Dammit, You. Get yourself together." She smacked her cheeks softly, getting herself out of the anxious mood she was setting herself in. This was not the time to become afraid. She had faced many things before - but a performance frightening her? That was just pathetic in her eyes.

"I can do it! I will have a grand performance!"

"So, tell me again. Why is it that you girls dragged me to the Colosseum?" A deeper voice spoke. A man who seemed to be in his thirties, he never told his real age. At least… not yet.

"Beeecause! We wanted to hang out with you!" A young girl of 15 pulled the man's arm toward the arena of the Colosseum. She wore a hood that was as red as a beautiful rose and a black and red dress that came to her knees.

The man groaned, "Look. Hanging with you kiddos really isn't my style. Besides I-" He noticed the red-hooded girl pout. Almost as if she's going to shed tears.

He combed back his graying black, spiky hair out of annoyance, "Dammit Ruby. Fine. I'll watch one! One match!"

Ruby jumped up and down with a large smile upon her face. "Uncle Qrow, you're the best!"

"I know, I know, kid." Qrow smiled as he saw his youngest niece as happy as can be. He loved his nieces with everything he had. He had no children of his own, so all of his uncle-ly, fatherly love went to them.

Ruby took them to sit near the arena, there they found several others there. Those others were the rest of Team RWBY. The young huntress-in-training had skipped two years of training as she entered the school of Beacon. This did set her aside from the rest of her peers, but she had been treated the same nonetheless. A blonde-haired girl ran to Qrow, giving him a large bear hug. She was known to be the brute of the group.

"Uncle Qrow!" She yelled. She caught him by surprise, practically breaking his ribs as she hugged him

"Yang…." He hugged her back with his own strength, then it was on. A battle of who can out-strong-hug who. It lasted for a full minute before they were stopped by the younger niece.

They ended their feud and fist bumped before making their way to the seats the others saved for the two.

"Hell. No." A voice spoke that Qrow just had to grin to, his mischievous side was about to come out.

"Hellooooo, Ice Queen. Wonderful morning, huh?" He looked over to his right to see Winter Schnee sitting beside her younger sister, Weiss - another member of Team RWBY.

"What are you doing here?" She questioned him, just the sight of him aggravated her. She thought about punching him in his 'smug' face that very moment. For yesterday. But she didn't. She made a promise a long time ago that she was going to upheld.

"Here with my nieces to watch a match." He said matter-of-factly.

"At this moment… there won't be a match." Winter spoke as if telling a prophecy.

This confused Qrow, as well as Ruby, Yang, Weiss and their other teammate Blake - who sat further away from the two huntsmen. But the confusion left as music started playing.

The announcers spoke:

 **Oobleck:** This year, we have brought to you all a special gift!

 **Port:** That's right! We have the privilege of having this very talented guest.

 **Oobleck:** Originally we had hoped for her to come a day earlier, but that's life.

Port narrowed his eyes at Oobleck as if he was high on something then spoke -

 **Port:** The matches will begin shortly after the performance.

It was then that Qrow understood what Winter had meant. His red eyes widened then glanced over to Winter who nodded in reply to what his eyes could say that his voice didn't. His eyes searched and searched but saw nothing. Not until a new selection of music started.

At first the music was soft and gentle, but once it picked up it grew into a more medium tempo. Once the medium tempo began, a woman had appeared from water in the center of the arena that was placed shortly before. Qrow's eyes widened even more. Team RWBY sat at the edge of their seat - curious, interested, thrilled. A woman in a blue hooded cape, much like that of Ruby's, stood amongst them all. She did nothing but stand there.

Her hands at her sides, a drum was keeping the tempo until her voice was heard:

 _Onward to_

Her hands shot up to her the sides of her face, water followed her hand's movements. The blue cape dissipated into purple dust. Revealing the elegant clothing that the woman hid underneath. It reminded Ruby of a dancer in the center of town, performing, from one of her fantasy books.

 _The Dark Abyss._

The water continued to move along with her body, as if it came alive and joined her dance.

 _He ontop of the light throne_

 _Will come to deceive them all_

A short break of dancing erupted, no lyrics, just the music and her body. Weiss looked over to her sister, excited as could be, "That's Silverstream! _The_ Silverstream! Here! In Beacon!" Winter was joyful over her sister's happiness of witnessing her idol's live performance here in her school.

Ruby gave her partner a look of confusion, "Silverstream?"

Weiss shook the hooded one, "What?! You don't know Silverstream!? She's Remnant's most elegant, beautiful voiced woman ever! She was the reason I pursued singing so much!"

The beautiful voice of Silverstream's came back into the song -

 _Spirals of false tales_

The element of air entered the arena, swirling in spirals

 _Blackening sun, slowly begin their descent_

Fire gave its mark, joining the dance with the other two elements of life.

 _Vanquishing the light_

A large spurt of light came about from the core of her being, outward to the outskirts of the fighting arena.

 _Just like twilight_

That said light fell to the ground and dissipated

 _Here from the heart._

There the song was the same, but the dance was not. It showed more liveliness to it than before. The fourth element of life - that of earth - joined in. It's representative was leaves of a tree.

 _Spirals of false tales_

 _Blackening sun, slowly begin their descent_

 _Vanquishing the light_

 _Just like twilight_

 _Here from the heart_

The woman gave her body to only the dance once more, her body moving elegantly from one side of the arena to the next. It was then that the fifth element of life was shown - spirit. Her being and soul connected to the music the crowd heard before them. There was no voice heard but hers. No sound but the music. The silent crowd just watched in awe as the woman danced.

 _Onward to_

 _The Dark Abyss_

 _He ontop of the light throne_

 _Will come to deceive them all_

 _Spirals of false tales_

 _Blackening sun, slowly begin their descent_

 _Vanquishing the light_

 _Just like twilight_

 _Here from the heart._

Her dance slowed, yet quickened at the last few seconds of the song. To allow herself to do several flips in a short time. Everyone in the crowd's heart pumped. And their excite became anew as they applauded her for her commendable dance. Team RWBY clapped and cheered, Yang even whistled. Winter had too, clapped to her friend.

Qrow was possibly the only one who did not clap or cheer, not even a simple smile. He just sat there, watching her as she bowed before the audience. Her veil had concealed her identity from the ones who watched her. Yet he knew exactly who she was, there was no denying that. He grabbed his flask from his inside pocket that he kept with him at all times and took a quick drink from it. Everyone was too busy cheering the songstress that they didn't notice him drink in the middle of day.

The people cheered for an encore, this made Qrow grin once more,"I know just the performance she can give."

Without warning he stood from his seat and jumped off from the watcher's area to the arena itself. The program that was necessary to create the holograms of the different elements overran the barrier that protected the audience from any… projectiles. This Qrow knew, and so he brought himself to the arena, startling not only his nieces, but the rest of the audience as well.

 _What is that guy doing?_

 _Is he a performer as well?_

 _Isn't that a Huntsmen?_

Such whispers went around the entire Colosseum.

"Well well well," Qrow teased speaking loudly so all could hear, "Look what we have here, a little songbird singing her youth away"

Although a veil was over her nose and mouth, Qrow could tell she was smiling, "And what do we have here?" she retorted, speaking at the same volume, "A drunken scarecrow drinking his youth away. Oh wait, that was already wasted."

Qrow ignored her little old man comment, but the audience did not. They shouted an "oooooh" when Silverstream burned the 'Old' Huntsmen. Even his nieces joined in.

But after that quick burst, the people in the stands stood still and quiet. They could sense the tension that was growing between the two. One might've thought that one could have cut the tension with a knife.

Qrow and Silver circled around each other, never breaking eye contact. Her movements were graceful, while his - his movements were anything but, "Ozpin never told me you'd be here," Qrow broke the silence between them.

"Funny, he never mentioned you either. Coincidence?"

Qrow snorted, "I think not. So let's get down to business, shall we?"

They both stopped their circling motion, "Business?" She asked.

Qrow pulled his hair back the same way he did with Winter the day before. He spoke loudly, pointing a single finger at her, "I challenge you to a duel!" Quietly he added, "I want my rematch."


	4. Beauty and the Beast

The crowd went wild from the dusty, old crow's proposition of a match. No one had ever challenged Silverstream before, simply because they believed her to be a performer and a performer only.

Weiss growled and stood from her seat, "What is that moronic, greasy, drunk thinking?! Silverstream's a performer, not a fighter!"

Yang grabbed Weiss by the collar of her pale blue bolero jacket, "Watch yourself. That's my Uncle you're talking about!" Winter did nothing but sit, she knew that her sister could handle her teammates herself. She had faith in her little sister.

Ruby tried to calm her own sister, "Well, he is a drunk. Look! He's drinking right now." She pointed over to their uncle who took his flask again and chugged what was left of it.

"Good point", Yang concluded, letting Weiss go and returning to her own seat beside Blake. "But why would Uncle Qrow want to fight her if she isn't anything but a Remnant-wide performer?"

"Oh hoooo," Weiss pointed an accusing finger at Yang, "So you at least know her."

Yang nodded, "Dad told me about her once when I saw him watching a video of one of her past performances." She spoke matter-of-factly as she watched the two who just stood in the arena. "But now that I think about it… he did say he graduated with her."

"What?!"

Down at the arena, Silver curtsied to her opponent, "I would honored to be your opponent." It caught everyone who knew of Silverstream, which was ninety-five percent of the audience, off guard.

Back in the announcer's area, Oobleck and Port said nothing. They didn't know what to say about the situation going on. Dust, they didn't _know_ what exactly was going on between the two.

A tap on Port's shoulder, "Excuse me. But may I commentate?"

Port looked behind him to find a middle aged man with short blonde hair and lilac eyes. He smiled at Port and he felt that maybe… This man knew what was going on better than he or Oobleck could ever hypothesize.

"Please," Port gestured to the microphone that sat between the two seats and stood from his seat so the newcomer could commentate.

"My thanks," the blonde man sat down, grabbed the mic in his hands, and let hell out loose, "Hellllooooo people of Remnant! This is Taiyang Xiao Long!" He enunciated each syllable of his name with equal excitement.

Anyone who saw Team RWBY's team match the previous day knew that the surname was similar and searched for the blonde brute of the group. "DAD?!" the siblings of Team RWBY yelled in unison. How was their father commentating for the Vytal Festival? Why was he? And what did he know what Port and Oobleck didn't?

Taiyang continued speaking with his eccentric nature, "Today we bring you a match of legends. The rematch between Team STRQ and Team SLVR! Way back at the… was it the 30th? _Maybe_ the 30th Vytal Festival that these two before you represented their respected teams. Both from Beacon Academy. Unfortunately… Team STRQ… had lost against Team SLVR's finest leader and warrior! So let's begin this shall we?"

The crowd erupted in cheers once more. Several were talking about the events that Taiyang had spoke of, but neither Ruby or Yang had ever heard of it from their father.

"Representing what would be Team STRQ, we have our kingdom drunk, Qrow Branwen!" Qrow gave a dirty look to the commentator's area in response to his former teammate's rude remark.

"And representing Team SLVR, we have the very beautiful, Silver Soteria!" Flames came from what seemed nowhere to burn the elegant clothing she had before to something.. newer. Dust was embedded into the performing outfit to bring her casual and combat outfit. A navy blue trench coat that falls to her knees with grey detail inside, her sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Underneath it is a gray crop corset, revealing her midriff and bosom. She also wore black tight pants and navy blue, heeled boots. On the top of her head was a grey headpiece from the center to the back of her head, having a white crystal on top of her forehead.

She bowed before the audience all lady like, Qrow was ready to choke Taiyang for calling her 'beautiful' and him a 'kingdom drunk', no matter how true both were.

He let the top half of his weapon come out into play from its base and kept it held behind his head, watching her as she stood there, doing as she did before - not taking out her weapon. Qrow couldn't help but smile as he held out his weapon in its greatsword form towards her with one hand. The other held high behind his head. Silver noticed that Qrow was becoming impatient and kept her eyes only on him. She turned to her right side, showing that she was in her own stance as well.

"Ooohoo, looks like our two competitors are ready." Taiyang commentated. Covering the microphone, he looked over to Port and Oobleck, "If you could.. it would be best to let someone know that they should probably disable her performance program. Or keep it. But I would say disable it."

Peter and Taiyang glanced over to Oobleck, who nodded and sped away with the help of hyperactiveness from coffee.

Uncovering the mic, Taiyang finished the intro, "Enjoy the match!"

Their faces were shown over on the large monitor, with the green sign of Vale as their background. Their names were displayed underneath their faces. Right next to their profile, a bar line was shown to display their aura level. It was to be a regular match like any other student would compete in. Except this time two Legendary Huntsmen stood on a child's battlefield. Qrow laughed to himself from the thought of him playing such a game. But he had his own pride, as little as that may show.

Another aspect of their match that was unlike the others that were shown the day before was the change in scenery. The arena would stay bare, the biomes were not to be used for this match. It was better off left alone, to recreate the event years before.

3…

2….

1….

Silver jolted to Qrow, using her martial art abilities to try to kick him somewhere solid, but he knew how to dodge. He tried to slash her several times with his greatsword but as a dancer she was graceful enough to dodge every attack he brought to her. Silver even had the dexterity to be atop of his sword as it laid out flat.

They continued like this for a while, Qrow was trying to force Silver into bringing out her weapon. A feat that was not easily done, but it was doable. He had done so before.

A quick glint in his eye was shown as he thought of a plan to bring out her weapon. A weapon he hadn't seen in a long time. He slash to her but she backflipped out of his way. She didn't see where he had gone, but he was not in front or behind of her.

 _Boom_

A bullet was shot behind her, instinctively she looked behind her then cursed herself as she looked up to see a mid-air Qrow coming down at her. And he was coming down hard. His full force of strength was coming down, and she knew the one thing that could deflect it.

Upon impact, the ground around the two was destroyed within a 3 meter radius. Rubble clouded the sight of the two from the audience's eyes. What was heard was the sound of two blades fending off against one another. The cloud of rubble dissipated and what was shown shocked many.

There was Qrow, pushing downward with his weapon in its greatsword form. And there was Silver, pushing upward with a sword of her own. It was a Jian sword that was thicker than most, etched up along the blade was an unknown text. Qrow had examined it before and could not read it. He asked what it meant, but she never told. The guard looked like wings pointing forward and the grip was covered in a black rayskin. The pommel was decorated by a lunar solar eclipse design.

She could fend him off for a short period of time with one hand, so she used her dominant hand - her right - to hold it up. Using her left hand she grabbed a pistol that was hidden underneath the jacket tail, strapped to her left thigh. Qrow's eyes widened, she didn't have this particular weapon before. She shot a bullet towards him, but he was quick enough to move his head to the left, where the bullet only grazed him.

He back stepped away from her with her pistol pointing at him in her left hand. In her right hand was her sword, pointing down at the ground. "You really know how to force my hand." She praised

"Ah ah ah," Qrow tsked at her, "I had forced your _weapon_. You used your hands by your own will." Silver grinned at his smart-ass remark. He had that cocky grin on him that reminded her of the last time they fought.

"Go Uncle Qrow! Kick her sorry ass!" Yang cheered on from the spectator's area. Ruby followed suit, but with less colorful language.

"Teach him respect, Silverstream!" Weiss cheered for Silver, resulting in a glare stare standoff between Team Qrow and Team Silver.

The only one of Team RWBY that didn't cheer was Blake Belladonna, she just sat and watched with a stoic look on her face. Just then a loud sound was heard from beside her, this time it was male rather than female. "Go 'Crazy Tea Lady'!" Sun cheered for Silver. All of Team RWBY and Winter Schnee looked at him as if he was crazy.

Qrow shared a laugh with Silver from this before he jolted towards her and slashed quickly. She had dodged enough for it not to be fatal but it had hindered some of her aura, "Sorry, Sil. But I can't let my nieces watch me fall."

"Go Aunt Silly!" Blake's voice was heard amongst the crowd. Her voice had reached Silver's Faunus ears, creating a strong resolve within her.

Just then something had wrapped around Qrow's leg to catch him off balance, and swinging him down to the ground. "And Dust damn me if I allow my own niece to watch _me_ fall," Silver stated. Beside her, her weapon had elongated into a snake-like figure, it had formed itself into a whip. Snake Dance, as she called it. Qrow quickly got up and his weapon was being wrapped by her own weapon. She didn't swing it anywhere like she did before, but attempted to keep it still.

She shot her pistol at him several times, but he was able to move his weapon and body enough to dodge. At the same time he returned fire at her. She too, dodged the best she could. Both had slowly hindered each's aura levels, little by little.

Enough with the gun fight, Silver retracted her sword back into its original form, keeping her eyes on Qrow. He too had kept his eyes on her. Qrow knew Silver had something up her sleeve, he just didn't know what yet.

Slowly, Silver took a ribbon-made braid, that hid underneath her hair, apart and showed that there were dust crystals on the end of each thin ribbon. Each crystal was of a different color - a different color, a different element. Qrow didn't understand why she had so many tiny dust crystals, or how she got it to be that size. But he did know that he was in trouble.

Next thing anyone knew, including Qrow, fire was being thrown at him. Then air, then earth. Electricity. Water. Ice. Any sort of element imaginable. Qrow deflected what he could, but she was using so much dust that he couldn't hold on any longer.

Finally, Silver combined all of the dust crystals she had into one large force and sent it to Qrow in a single wave. The rest of his aura was immediately depleted, and his body fell down to the ground.

The audience was utterly speechless. They didn't exactly understand as to what exactly happened or how it did happen. All they knew… was that Qrow was on the ground, defeated.

"Looks like Team SLVR's Silver Soteria has won this match!" Taiyang announced.

And once more the crowd went wild, some whistles were heard, but most importantly - they had now discovered that the Beauty could defeat the Beast.

Silver walked over to Qrow who stared up at the sky, watching the clouds flow and the birds fly by. He felt… at peace, just like he did years ago. His pride was not damaged. He was content by the way the match ended. "Well, seems like the songbird has kicked the scarecrow's ass." He joked.

She held out her hand to him to which he took it and stood up with her help, "The songbird could kick the scarecrow's ass any day she wished."

"Think she can make the boo-boos go away?" He fake-pouted at her as if he was a child who just scraped his knee.

She shook her head at the hopeless man-child. "I swear Qrow," She placed a gentle kiss on the surface of his lips in a quick motion, rendering the 'Scarecrow' speechless and stunned for a split second. His stunned face had eased into a more relaxed smile.

"I may have to kick your ass harder next time."


	5. Relations

In the top of the large tower of Beacon Academy, underneath an intricate clockwork mechanism consisting of gears and clogs, was a room. An office, to be exact. The headmaster of Beacon Academy's office. There by the large set of windows that oversaw all of Beacon, was a desk that followed the same pattern of clogs and gears. And at this desk was a man who held a mug of coffee in his hands with a monitor screen in front of him.

This was the Headmaster himself. He was watching the Vytal Tournament that took place in the Amity Colosseum, that was currently hovering over his Academy. Instead of the stoic look he would always have on his face, his eyes were widened and mouth agape as he witnessed the two huntsmen on the holographic monitor. Instead of being awkward and distant, they were close and full of smiles.

"Huh." He said to himself as he sipped his blackened coffee, "Guess I didn't have to worry about them afterall."

In the Amity Colosseum in its center arena, Silver and Qrow stood close to one another. It was the same image that Ozpin viewed back in his office. She looked up at him as he was looking down at her with a grin. Qrow extended his arm to wrap it around her waist and pull her towards him.

"Excuse me, little lady. I do believe that you promised me a date next time I saw you?"

She laughed and patted his chest, "Sweetie. That was the other way around." She gave him another light kiss, but Qrow took it further and held her close to him to deepen that kiss.

Whistles of encouragement rung in their ears, comments such as 'Show her who's the man!' and even a girly 'oooh' was heard. It went through all around the colosseum. Except in a tiny area where Team RWBY and Winter Schnee sat.

"Holy. Dust," Winter whispered, "They're back together again…"

"Oh yeah!" Taiyang's voice was heard, "Did I mention that they're a couple?" He chuckled before he gave the commentating rights back to its original owners. Taiyang gave his thanks before leaving the commentators' area.

Back at the fairgrounds, a running team of first years made its way to the heart of the fairgrounds. Following them, was a more curious Atlesian Military personnel. All four girls searched for the Huntsmen couple.

"Looking for someone, perhaps?" Silver's voice was heard behind the group. All but Winter quickly turned to see the beautifully elegant woman with her arms crossed in her usual attire. Beside her was the equally handsome and mischievous Qrow Branwen, his arm around her shoulder.

Winter calmly turned to address Silver's question, "Yes. A couple that didn't dare to tell me."

"Don't feel too bad," A man who appeared to be the same age as Silver and Qrow walked up to the group, "Silver told me just last week."

"Dad!" Ruby and Yang ran up to hug their dear father, who was supposively on his first mission in years. Taiyang hugged his daughters back with all of his love.

"What're you doing here?!" Ruby asked.

"Silver called me last week to tell me that she was performing here for the festival. I knew beforehand that this'll be her last performance so…. Here I am. I wanted to at least see it live, but I didn;t expect to see her and.. Qrow… to fight. Again."

"So you guys fought before, huh?" Yang asked this time.

Qrow nodded, "Yeah back when we were your age."

A beeping sounds came from Taiyang's scroll. He opened it to look at the message inside of it. "Well, that's my cue. Sorry I wasn't able to stick around longer girls, but…."

"We understand," Ruby smiled as she hugged her father once more, "Go and be awesome." Yang hugged him right after Ruby did. With such love between the three of them, Taiyang felt more sure of himself and for this mission. He knew that his daughters were going to be okay. And thus he was able to leave them for his mission.

"I had no idea…." Silver whispered. She truly didn't know that Taiyang was going to be there with the others, it was much of a surprise to her as it was to the others. Either way, she was still grateful for coming to see her last performance.

After Taiyang left, Winter side-glanced at Silver, "You told him and yet you didn't tell me."

Silver gave her a small, nervous smile, "Sorry. Winty. Kaw and I wanted to keep it a little secret for a bit."

Qrow winced in his head slightly before adding, "You still told him, so what the point of it being a secret?"

"Yeah… sorry…."

Weiss lifted an eyebrow, "Winty?"

Ruby and Yang followed suit, "Kaw?"

Qrow and Winter visibly winced at the stupid nicknames, "Aunt Silver has this knack for giving people really stupid nicknames." Blake explained.

"Aunt…" Yang started

"Silver?" Ruby finished.

"Yes," Silver moved away from Qrow's half embrace, making the veteran Huntsmen pout. What seemed to be a slow walk, quickly turned into a fast glomp onto the Belladonna girl. "My Blakey! My precious blakey-cakey! Oh I missed you sooooo much!" Silver held her niece close as she rubbed her cheek on her niece's.

"I literally saw you yesterday," Blake groaned at her aunt's affection.

"Yes, but I wanted to embarrass you in front of your team." Silver pulled away from the embrace, "It's way more fun that way."

Off to the side, Ruby scooted over to her uncle as she whispered, "I like her." Qrow chuckled at Ruby's approval. Silver heard this comment before returning back to Qrow's side.

"Girls," He diverted his attention to his two nieces, "This is Silver Soteria. Silv, these are my nieces - Yang and Ruby."

"YanYan and Reds, got it." Silver quickly gave the two girls their own nickname. "Pleasure to meet you."

Winter gently pushed her younger sister right in line next to 'YanYan' and 'Reds', "and this is my sister, Weiss."

"Oh yes! The one I've heard so much about! My _biggest fan_." Silver and Winter giggled as Weiss's face grew red.  
"W-well, I find your performances so inspiring that…" She couldn't finish her own sentence.

Silver patted the top of Weiss's head, "Oh, Icy-Weissy. I really did enjoy your performance at the White Hall back in Atlas. It was so… sad. Yet invigorating. I couldn't look at mirrors the same way for weeks!" She laughed at the memory she had. Looking at herself in the mirror, contemplating who she really is inside. If there was anyone truly living inside of her. She had to either turn the mirror around or cover it to get any sort of sleep.

"It's really nice to meet you all," She smiled at three of the four members of Team RWBY before grabbing that fourth member by the shoulders, "Qrow…" Silver presented Blake in front of him with a large smile on her face, "this is my little niece, Blake!"

Qrow nodded to Blake who nodded back to him. An unspoken greeting that somewhat pissed Silver off. But her smile never faded.

"Winty isn't going to be here long…. And the girls are probably busy with the tournament and all…" The wheels in Silver's head were turning. "Why don't we split up in thirds and hang out with our respected families!"

Qrow looked like he was about to protest as Silver cut him off, "We can hang out tomorrow. I promise, baby." The endearment almost made the girls (and Winter) barf.

"I like her a little less," Ruby jokingly added.

After they broke apart into separate groups - Qrow with Ruby and Yang to their dorm room, Winter and Weiss to a garden pavilion, and Blake and Silver to the school's Library - Qrow and Ruby sat on the floor next to Ruby playing video games using their scrolls as their controllers.

"You'll never beat me, old man!" Ruby exclaimed, pressing the buttons on her scroll-controller.

Qrow scoffed, "You're nothing but talk, kid."

"Go Ruby!" Yang cheered her sister on as support.

The two ninjas on the large screen continue to fight until the one decapitates the other. The announcer of the game shouted out, _SOARING NINJA WINS! TOTAL ANNIHILATION!._ Qrow grinned at his victory while his niece hung her head in defeat.

"And don't call me _old_ ," He showed his distaste of the word to the defeated 15 year old.

Soon after, Yang pushed her own sister away, "My turn!" Grabbing the controller that fell from her sister's hands, the game started anew.

Qrow chuckled as he played his challenger. "What was I talking 'bout?" He swore to himself in his head as he realized he had given his nieces the perfect setup for an "old man" comment.

Ruby quickly shot up from the ground, "Your last mission!"

Grateful that the setup was unnoticed he continued to speak about his previous mission as he fought in the video game, "I had come across a small village in the swamps west of Mistral. Something wasn't right, and I knew it. I needed information yet I was tired after fighting Grimm along the way. So I thought, what better place to start than the local inn? The place was crawling with lowlifes and thugs, even a few Huntsmen that I could only assume had been hired by less-than reputable people for less-than respectable jobs. And that's when it happened."

Ruby was seated on top of a bed that was Weiss's, her butt on the edge, "What happened?"

"I was defeated… by the mere sight…." He was silent for a few moments.

"Of the innkeeper's skirt length!" Qrow seemed pleased with himself. Yet someone wasn't as a dog-head pillow was thrown to his face. Unfortunately to the thrower, he had deftly caught it. Yang pouted at her uncle as the game's announcer roared the words, _SOARING NINJA WINS! TOTAL ANNIHILATION!_

"You have a girlfriend. Yet you still look at other women and their skirts! You're the worst!" Yang half-joked.

"Hey," He pulled out his scroll to show the messages between he and Silver, "I sent her a picture. She said it wasn't short enough. She can be so critical."

Ruby and Yang gave him a surprised look.

"Still, It's amazing that a woman such as Silver exists. It's even more amazing that I ever got the chance to be with her." His face turned grim, thinking about her smiling face every time he would see her. That face that greeted him each time they saw one another. The day that he asked for her to be his girlfriend, for the very first time, and her crying face of happiness.

The two daughters of Taiyang watched their uncle with saddened faces. Yet, Ruby was the one to change the subject, "So did you get in trouble with Ozpin?"

This snapped Qrow out of his train of thought and had to ask himself what she was saying. Once he understood her question he answered, "Nah. Oz and me go way back, we're cool."

"For an old guy," Yang scoffed, still salty about losing the match in the game.

"Not funny," He really did hate the old man jokes. He wasn't _old_. At least not yet.

Ruby had asked why he was here. It did surprise Winter and Taiyang, especially Silver that Qrow was here and not on his mission that he was apparently still working on. Qrow answered about himself being a professional huntsmen that's expected to bring in his report.

"Wellllll, we're pretty much pros, too," Ruby smiled brightly. "We practically saved Vale while you were gone."

"Funny. I heard Vale suffered a Grimm attack after you _almost_ stopped a train. But they don't give out medals for… _almost_."

Ruby countered, "They do and it's called silver!"

"I'm telling her you said that." Qrow grinned.

Yang was not giggling as her sister was from the Silver joke. In fact, Yang was annoyed from her uncle dissing her and her team's achievements with all of their suffering and hard work that had been poured into it. "We helped take down Roman Torchwick! He's locked up in Ironwood's ship and crime's been down ever since!"

Qrow rolled his eyes at the naiveté that Yang possessed, "Sure, you may be acting like Huntresses. Yet you're not thinking like one. Violence hasn't dropped since Roman got nabbed; it's stopped, _completely_. No White Fang activity around the city. You cut off the head of the King Taijitu, but now the second head 's calling the shots. That's what Ironass can't get through that thick metal head of his."

This made the two sisters exchange a look before asking two completely separate questions.

"You know the general?" Ruby asked

"Ironass?" Yang asked at the same time

Qrow answered both, "Silv calls him that, It's rubbed off on me. And yes, I know everybody to some extent. Remember, you're talking to a member of one of the two coolest teams that graduated Beacon!"

Reaching behind himself in the back of his pocket, he grabbed a photo lined with stains and age of four figures. From right to left was a woman in a white robe, the leader of the group. Then Taiyang as his younger self leaning on a tree with a woman with raven hair and next to her was Qrow himself. Yang noticed the raven haired woman and stared at her with awe as Qrow sighed.

"That's where I met your parents. We were pretty well known back in the day." He noticed Ruby giving a face that told him that she didn't believe him, "We looked good!" He defended, "And I have a number of inappropriate stories to back it up!" His attention went back to Yang then quickly put the photo away, "but that can wait till you're older."

The extraction of the photo shook Yang out of her trance, while her sister gagged from the comment Qrow made. From the side of Qrow's leg was another picture, not as big as the previous one, but one that seemed just as precious. "What's that?" Yang asked. She knew it didn't belong to the team.

Qrow noticed what she was talking about and picked it up from beside him, "Must of slipped out of my pocket." He showed the girls the picture of him and Silver when they were younger. His arms wrapped around her from behind, his head sitting on her shoulder. Both of their smiles shining as brightly as ever.

"This was when we attended Beacon together." Qrow smiled before putting it away back in his pocket. The girls watched him with smiles of their own, happy to see their drunkard of an uncle happy.

He stood from the floor where he sat at, "Damn, I'm too old to hang with you kiddos. You're gonna cramp my style." He made his way to the door yet paused right in front of it. His mind was running wild, yet with all that was going on he felt the need to say something to his most beloved nieces.

"Look," he turned to address them, "just remember that you've still got a long way to go. Still have a lot to learn." His face turned into something more serious, "And don't think for a second that graduating means you're done. One day out there means a week in this place! The two of you… you're gonna go far. But only if you keep learning, and only if you _never_ stop moving forward."

Content with the advice that he gave, he opened the door to exit into the hallway.


	6. The Heart That Has Yet Mended

"So what did you guys end up doing, after we split up?" Yang asked Blake and Weiss about their time with their family members. They were at their dorm room, sitting on their respected beds. Blake held a book in her hand, Yang looked at her scroll, Ruby was playing with Zwei, and Weiss was filing her nails.

Weiss answered first, "Winter and I had a wonderful time in the gardens drinking tea. We talked about my time here and she was very happy to hear about my report."

Blake inclined her head to Weiss, "that's close to the same thing Aunt Silver and I did."

"Then what exactly did you guys do?" Ruby held Zwei to her chest.

"Well… we had tea at this small tea shop and talked."

"About what?"

"School, mainly. She asked about Sun and our… relationship with one another. How I'm liking the festival… normal stuff…"

Weiss stopped what she was doing, "which reminds me…WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US YOUR AUNT WAS THE GREAT SILVERSTREAM?!" She yelled so loud, it was possible all of Menagerie could have heard her. Poor Zwei hid his sensitive ears underneath Ruby's pillow.

"I didn't know," Blake answered calmly, despite how Weiss reacted.

"What do you mean, you didn't know?! How could you not know?"

"Weiss, it's not like people can be in contact all the time. I mean, look at Ruby and I with Uncle Qrow. We had no idea he was even capable of dating!" Yang tried to defend her partner, trying to shed some light on the subject.

"I guess but…" Weiss looked over at Blake again, "the way you two interacted, you guys seemed… really close. So.."

"I kinda got that feeling from them too," Ruby added her own opinion.

Blake sat there, thinking to herself, wondering if they really seemed that close from a few seconds of interaction that they had in front of the team. "We used to be close.." Blake knew what they were, but not that they are now.

"Used to be?" Yang tilted her head, wondering what she had meant.

The young Faunus took a deep breath before explaining, "Aunt Sil used to babysit me, sometimes it seemed as if she was raising me. I knew she was a Huntress, so I knew that at times she would be gone in her missions. But-"

"Wait," Weiss cut her off, "did she know that you were in the White Fang as a kid?"

"Yeah. She did. She was actually proud of me for being so loyal to our brethren. My parents knew as well…..She trusted that the White Fang would protect me, if she or my Father couldn't. In fact, Aunt Silver taught me the basics of fighting. The rest, I learned on my own…. We learned on our own."

Blake remembered those days when Silver would teach her some of her 'fighting skills'. Each training session was fun, but at the same time, tough. As a trained swordswoman, Silver would hand Blake a sturdy stick to practice her swings. Even encouraging the young Faunus to add some of her own personality into the mix. Swordsmanship is personal to each individual, an art, a dance that only the wielder knows. This was the foundation of Blake's training.

Blake continued on, "But one day… after a mission… she didn't do her usual greeting of hugs and promises of bedtime stories. Instead she… talked to my Father about something that got him angry. Left to speak to a White Fang member… she was setting up something. I… never knew what. Then… she came to us.. My childhood friend and I, he was older than I was. I think he knew more than I did when it came to what Aunt Sil was doing. When she came to us, she got down to our eye level… and told us to watch over one another…. Next thing I knew… she was gone. Hadn't seen her since. Well, not until Sun and I coincidentally ran into her at a tea shop this very morning."

The rest of Team RWBY sat there, mouths agape as they listened to the sad story that was Blake's. "So she just… left you?" Yang asked, growing angrier by the second, thinking about her own mother who left her with Taiyang. Never returning.

"When I was little.. That''s what I thought," Blake held her knees tightly close to her chest. "But today, when we split up, she explained some things to me. Things that…I never thought would happen to her..."

"What kind of things?"

Blake slightly recited her aunt's words from their afternoon together to the three girls, "She failed to protect someone important to her. She lost faith in herself. She couldn't trust herself to protect anyone. So she left, setting up things with everyone to make sure that everything was going to be okay for us. She.. tried to do one last thing for us."

Yang's anger calmed after hearing Silver's reasons, as vague as they were. But for all that she knew, Blake could have been avoiding certain topics that she didn't to think about or talk about. Either way, Yang knew Silver's basic reasons, and she was okay with that. She was okay with the woman that Qrow deemed to be worthy.

Weiss looked down at her nail filer, softly asking, "So your aunt… lost someone?"

Blake nodded.

Ruby held Zwei closer to her, causing the corgi to look up at his owner, "Loss is never easy to get over. It's… like you're always yearning for that person to come back to you. Only you never get to have that person back again. It's… torture. Soul-breaking even." Ruby was deep in a trance. At first when her mother passed away, she didn't fully understand it. She didn't fully understand the concept of death. She still didn't. But she did understand the feeling of yearning for her mother's touch, her mother's presence.

"But with time, you're able to overcome your loss and move on." Yang tried to indirectly remind her little sister about moving on. Time was always necessary for the mind and heart to fully accept when a beloved person has been lost to them forever. "You grow stronger." Yang also added, which threw Ruby out of her dark trance.

"I'm curious, which side of the family is your aunt from?" Weiss asked.

Blake smiled, "My father's. He ended up taking my mother's name instead of her taking his."

"Why?

"Not sure. Arun and Kali Belladonna sound kind of nice together. Though Arun Soteria sounds good too…."

"Arun? That's your dad's name?" Ruby smiled after knowing a little bit more about the Faunus girl.

"Yeah. Dad's a panther Faunus, Mom's a fox. But Dad is the kind that you couldn't tell was a Faunus. But I was told that when I was born, Aunt Sil took one look at my ears, and she felt so close to me already."

"Why would that be?" Yang was excited to finally hear more about her partner, teammate and friend, but she couldn't understand some of the things that Blake was trying to explain or talk about. It felt as if there were gaps in Blake's story that required more explanation. But at the same time, Yang got the feeling that all that she was talking about were just memories that were buried within her heart and after seeing her aunt, all of these memories, these feelings were flooding out of her like a broken dam.

"Because we share the same Faunus trait. We have our ears," Blake wiggled her ears underneath her bow. "This bow used to belong to her, and I wear it now just as she did."

Weiss was taken aback as she realized that the woman that she had idolized for most of her life was a Faunus. A race that Weiss had been hating on due to her family and the Faunus hating one another for years. Because of the war between the Faunus and the Schnee family that had been lasting for years.

"So that headpiece of hers…" Weiss began, "is to hide her ears?"

"If that's so, do you think that Uncle Qrow knows about it?"

Blake shivered, "I highly believe that he knows."

Yang lifted an eyebrow, "and what makes you say that?"

"When I asked about her relationship with your uncle...Aunt Silver stated, and I.. sadly quote… 'sex with that man is absolute heaven'."


	7. Shaking Strings

In the middle of the afternoon, many people were out and about for the Vytal Festival. Many enjoyed the matches that were taking place, many spent time in the fairgrounds and many spent time simply working. Yet two people stayed within the bed of the guest suite given to them by the headmaster of Beacon.

One of the two sat up, his hair a tad unkempt yet he felt relaxed and awake. It had been awhile since he'd been such a way. His time of fighting had lessened… for now. Thinking that, he couldn't help but watch the woman who laid beside him. Her eyes were closed as her long silver river of hair surrounded her. He was afraid of losing her, just as he lost many people close to him. But he had to let go of those emotions, he knew she could take care of herself in a fight. If she could beat him, she could hold her own.

His thoughts diminished by the sight of his silver-haired, cat-eared beauty beside him. He couldn't help but smile as he pushed the hair out of her eyes. Qrow wished that her eyes would open so that he may gaze into the amethysts that greeted him every time they met. The same eyes that would glare, accuse, analyze and even joke with him. He loved every bit of those eyes of hers.

Bending down he kissed her softly on the cheek, whispering the words he never spoke to anyone that was awake - a practice he would never stray from.

"I love you," He got up to sit on the edge of the bed, stretching his arms.

"And I love you," A voice spoke back to him. The same singsongy, silvery voice that he wished every other woman would never have. He wanted this voice all to himself.

Qrow's face grew bright red, but still he kept his back to her, "I thought you were asleep."

Silver sat up, holding up the blankets to her chest, "I was. And now I'm not." She lifted an eyebrow at her lover. "Were you gonna leave me without saying anything?" This happened at times, Qrow leaving after a night (or day) of self-indulgence.

"I was planning on leaving a note. But I was going to head to Ozpin's office. Had some business to take care of."

"Without me?" To Qrow, she sounded offended and she was to a slight extent, but not as much as he had thought. A soft pang came onto his chest, he knew that he hurt her from leaving her alone after this type of activity. It didn't happen often, but it did happen. And he felt like a piece of shit every time of doing so. But.. he didn't want to be pulled in by this dream of a relationship. He couldn't allow himself to be so comfortable with this as he had before.

"Didn't want to wake you." He said simply as he rubbed his shoulder, his arms felt sore as well as his shoulders. Yet neither compared to the pain that he was feeling on his back.

Silver watched him, taking several quick glimpses of the man-made, temporary pattern, "Does it hurt?" Moving over to Qrow she landed a gentle hand on his back full of scratches.

Qrow laughed, "A little. Sil, you really know how to claw at a man." His eyes widened the second he felt something wet and warm touch his back. It wasn't a quick feeling, but a long sensual feeling.

Silver's tongue moved away from his back in hopes to soothe the pain she had caused onto him, "I'm sorry.." She sounded sad, so sad that Qrow couldn't help himself from turning and holding her close to him, her bare chest against his.

"Don't be, it's a small price I'm willing to pay for a woman like you."

Silver eyed him with curiosity, "Who are you and what have you done to Qrow Branwen?"

Qrow laughed as he gently pushed her away from him so he could look at her in the eye, "Right now, I'm a tamed man. Otherwise, _those_ words never escaped my lips. Got it?"

"Therrrrre he is," Silver joked, "There's the Qrow I know."

"Sil, you've known me in many ways. More than anyone else should."

Those words tore Silver up inside of her. Yes, she knew what was to know about Qrow Branwen - his family, his past, his likes and dislikes - yet he knew only half of her. At times it bothered Qrow that Silver never spoke about her family. So much that this day was the first time he met Blake, just heard very little things about her. Yet Silver knew about Yang and Ruby, it'd just been years since she's seen them, and Silver was quite certain that Yang had forgotten her.

Silver's eyes grew wide, ears perking up, "I have an idea!"

The hidden romantic lifted an eyebrow, "what?"

A mischievous smile curved on her lips.

At the time of twilight, in Ozpin's office, the headmaster himself sat on his desk chair. He was facing the window with a mug of coffee in his hand when the doors opened. Qrow Branwen with a cup of coffee of his own in his hand and Silver Soteria with a gift for the headmaster.

"Ozzie!" Silver joyfully laughed as she threw the 'gift' onto his desk, "A little present."

Ozpin glanced over to the side to see a little bag. He set his cup of coffee down to pick the bag up, unsure as to what was inside. Afraid of Silver's smiling face, he looked inside of the bag anyway. After several seconds of staring at the damn thing, he threw it away in the tiny trash can underneath the desk. He said nothing as he picked up his coffee to stare out the window once more.

This made Silver and Qrow laugh to the point their sides ached. As immature and stupid their joke was, it did seem stupidly funny to Ozpin. Underneath the emotional scarring it had done to Ozpin, of course.

"How much alcohol is in that mug?" Ozpin asked.

"Twenty-five percent." Qrow answered as Silver took a sip out of it.

"Mmhmm," Ozpin didn't believe that.

"Could be worse," Silver assured, "We could have been James." With Silver using Ironwood's first name, the two huntsmen knew she meant no malice behind her words.

Ozpin sighed, "His heart is in the right place. He's just...misguided." There was a hint of sadness within Ozpin's words. He had known James for a long time, they were both friends and colleagues. Ozpin had no thoughts of Ironwood betraying him or bringing harm to the kingdoms. He really did want to do what was best for the kingdoms and Remnant in general.

"Sometimes I don't even think he _has_ a heart."

"Like an authoritative tin man?"

"Exactly," He sipped his coffee and asked Ozpin what he had meant to ask as he came here after their little… 'joke'.

"Have you decided on your guardian, yet?" Silver stared at Qrow, realizing what he meant by 'business'. Panic erupted within Silver, panic that she just couldn't shake. But neither Qrow or Ozpin caught onto it. Even when Ozpin swiveled around on his chair to face the couple.

"They choose themselves. I simply believe I've found the right candidate. Ever since the day I met her, I had the feeling she would be the one. She's strong, intelligent, caring… but most importantly, **She's ready**."

Silver's breathing grew ragged, memories surged through her mind as the conversation went on. Her body shivered as she couldn't look at either of the two men who seemed to be talking further about the subject. She couldn't handle it. She couldn't take it. So she did the only thing she could do that was.. civil.

She left the room.

Without saying a word.


	8. Author's Note Warning: Feels Ahoy

**Hello to you all. I'm sorry that I haven't uploaded a new chapter in a while.**

 **Funny thing, I had it set up, but I realized that I was missing a complete scene(s) and so the one I was working on will be the one after the one I missed. I do apologize.**

 **But that wasn't my only reason why.**

 **You see, my depression had been resurfaced some time ago, and I have lost interest in almost everything.**

 **I know it may sound like an excuse, but its the truth.**

 **I've been losing important battles; my hope dwindling into nothing.**

 **I feel so alone, even when I'm surounded by people.**

 **Yes, I know we all feel that way. And I'm sorry if you feel that way too.**

 **I am losing hope. I don't feel like I deserve this fable thing called "happiness" even when I try to reach out for it.**

I thought I had that happiness with the wonderful man I have fallen for. And yes, we are dating.

Yet... I'm fighting a battle alone against darkness when two are needed for its defeat. At least that's how it feels like.

 **Let me tell you something...**

 **This is the state of Qrow and Silver.**

 **One is fighting. Another is running.**

 **I'll let you guess which is doing which.**

 **Silver, too, believes she doesn't deserve the wonder of happiness. She believes that all that awaits her is darkness.**

 **And what's so funny is that.. the female protagonist in my Naruto/Code Geass/ FF/ KH crossover feels this way too. Yet instead of fighting, like Silver and I are desperately doing, she's running.**

 **I guess I can call these two girls my daughters. Girls who have inherited their mother's self-will. Their self-esteem.**

 **They pray for death, yet it will not come to them. They know it is selfish and they will not do so. But, in the back of their mind... they want it.**

 **The three of us have deep scars that will never heal. Silver more so than me. And the 12 year old protagonist girl more so than Silver, believe it or not.**

 **But our scars remain.**

 **Yet... we're so alone**

 **We have been ignored for a long time.**

 **But unlike them.. I am useless. Talentless.**

 **Sometimes I strive to be them. But I know that that will never happen.**

 ***Deep breath* I'm sorry. I know that I am rambling.**

 **I just... needed to convey my feelings somehow.**

 **But please, if someone is hurting out there and subtly asking for help. Give it to them.**

 **They're lost.**

 **They have no hope.**

 **They seek attention because they are given NONE.**

 **Please help them. I believe the man I love is giving up on me. I hope not though. Because I feel that right now, he is the only one that can save me from myself.**

 **Not God**

 **Because "Si Deus Me Relinquit, Ego Deum Relinquo" (Black Butler fans will know that one)**

 **But back onto the story.**

 **For either, please at least give comments, it doesn't necessarily have to be a review.**

 **Help me improve.**

 **Push me to do better.**

 **Give me a reason to do this so that I may distract myself from my demons.**

 **And NEVER give up hope.**

 **Never let the darkness harm you.**

 **Because just know... That I'm at least here for you.**

 **-NaelaNightshade**

 **P.s. Thank you for those who have read this. My shoulders feel a little more lighter now.**


	9. Haven's Finest

It was the next day, which meant that now was the time of the doubles round of the Vytal Festival. Yang Xiao Long sat by as she watched each match go through. Her teammates tried to get her away from the arena, but Yang had to stay.

The previous day during the team battles, there was a team of second years from Beacon against first years from the same school. It was Team TRRF (Turf) against an unnamed team. The reason why it was unnamed is because they really weren't a _team_ at all. It was just three second years paired up with another of their classmates.

That singled out classmate had practically ordered the rest of the group to stay back and stay out of his way. To Yang, he was arrogant. One who couldn't walk as he talked. Yet he proved her thoughts wrong as he defeated Rowena Oro by ring out, then Fonce Bluer by a stealth ring out, Royal Gené Bivera by ring out and Aura Level and finally their leader, Topaz Kogamo, by a ring out as well.

Much to the audience's surprise, the rest of the unnamed team had stayed away from the fight for this lone man. This lone Faunus.

He was taller than Yang, with black hair that was pulled back into a small ponytail and eyes as red as blood. Something similar to Yang's whenever her temper fired off. He wore a black formal trench coat with a sleeveless shirt underneath. He was protecting his Faunus heritage underneath his trench coat. His wings. Bat wings to be precise. His pants too, were black.

His name was Noir Harceleur, a second year of Beacon and a solo man when the school was divided into teams. Rumors spread like wildfire in any school or department, yet rumors about this boy spread much faster.

It was rumored that his team had passed away a year ago during a mission, and that the boy suffered from PTSD. It was also rumored that he hates every person, including humans, and ESPECIALLY Schnees. Yang could understand why a Faunus wouldn't view the Schnee family highly, but Weiss wasn't that bad of a person. At least, once you get to know her.

But today was the doubles match, and today Noir was against Arthur Grey and Chalaign Royale of Team ACVR (Azure) a fourth year team.

Port and Oobleck spout their commentator's nonsense that didn't mean a damn thing to Yang. She was intrigued by this student's fighting style, his attitude and his exceptional skills as a huntsmen-in-training. Yang knew that her uncle would practically devour the bat faunus, but Qrow would also be given a hard time. His girlfriend on the other hand… All of Team RWBY agreed that Silver Soteria would wipe this Faunus to the ground, just as she did Qrow.  
Noir swaggered his way onto the arena with his stand-in partner. The partner just stood there, looking just as confident as Noir did. The two of them eyed their competition.

Arthur was a well-toned guy with salt-pepper grey hair that was of medium length. Arthur was riddled with scars all around his body, from his eyes to his arms and back. Head to toe, he was filled of scars.

Chalaign Royale was extremely well built like any other man out there. Her auburn hair was pulled into a tight ponytail with her scowl as mean as any Grimm could give.

All four contestants looked ready.

The stage was set and the countdown went to one.

"Did you see your well awaited fight, Yang?" Blake sat beside her partner whose eyes were wide open. The people in the arena around them whispered and talked amongst themselves.

"Yeah… Yeah I saw it. Blake that guy…" Yang's voice trailed off.

"The Harceleur guy?"

"Yeah. He's… amazing. You should have seen it! His partner gave himself a ring out but that didn't bother him! Blake, they planned it and he still won!"

Blake smiled as she watched her partner grow more and more excited. Yang always loved a challenge and apparently, this boy was to be her next victim.

"Well, you'll have to win your and Weiss's match before you even think about fighting him."

Yang pouted, "Yeah yeah, I know."

Blake stood from her seat and held out her arm to her eccentric partner, "C'mon, Sun said he wanted us to meet someone."

At the Fairgrounds, Two members of Team RWBY and all of Team SSSN, as well as Team JNPR sat around, enjoying a small snack. They all sat a table that was large enough for all of them. It was all wonderfully peaceful, being able to sit beside friends, joking and smiling, laughing.

Blake and Yang joined up with the large group and sat close by them, "Look who I found," Blake jokingly stated.

Ruby, with a mouthful of cookies, brightened, "Hhmr, Rnng! Rn mun ma murt!"

Everyone around them giggled, as they were all already used to the young huntress-in-training's antics. "Ruby, swallow your food before talking…" Yang gave her little sister a droll look as her sister swallowed her cookie meal.

She tried again, "Hey Yang! How was the match?"

Yang looked at her sister helplessly; she loved her sister with everything she had in her body. Yang was basically the mother figure in Ruby's life, as they didn't have either of their mothers in their lives. In reality, they were half-sisters, girls who shared a single parent. In their case they shared a single father- Taiyang Xiao Long.

"It was awesome. You guys should've seen it." Yang took a half of a ham sandwich, "It was basically one guy versus two."

"That happens a lot," a red-headed beauty spoke, her name was Pyrrha Nikos and she was the top student in her class back at Sanctum Academy. She sat next to her partner, Jaune Arc, the leader of Team JNPR, and Nora Valkyrie, another member of Team JNPR.

"Yeah, but his partner didn't even lift a finger," Yang took a bite of the sandwich, "the guy rang himself out."

As Yang told the story of the battle between Noir Harceleur against Arthur Grey and Chalaign Royale; Scarlet David, a member of Team SSSN, checked his scroll every several seconds. His team leader, Sun Wukong, noticed this and placed a hand on his friend's shoulder.

Just to violently shake him

"Calm down! She said she'd be here, so she'll be here!"

The other two members of Team SSSN, Sage Ayana and Neptune Vasilias chuckled as the rest of the group watched in horror.

"Did she?" Scarlet retorted, "Did she really _say_ that?"

"Well, I, er... " Sun stuttered, making Sage and Neptune laugh. Everyone else looked at one another in confusement.

 _Beep_

The sound of a notification came from Sage's scroll. Before he even read it, he saw its sender - and his eyes brightened. Which in turn brightened the eyes of all of Team SSSN. Until the message was read.

Sage's smile flipped into a frown as he continually read the message again and again. Sun let go of Scarlet's jacket, "What's up?"

Sage sighed, "We should have met her at the docks."

"Why?" Scarlet asked.

"She was abducted…."

Team RWBY and Team JNPR's back straightened. They were afraid for the unknown person they were supposed to meet. Who would abduct someone in the middle of day at the Vytal Festival? To them, it didn't make sense.

"It wasn't my idea." A dark-skinned female with platinum blonde hair and olive green eyes spoke. Her hand and positioned on her hip as she watched them with no emotion in her eyes.

"Arslan!" Sun moved passed the group to stand in front of the leader of Team ABRN. "What do you mean it wasn't your idea?"

"Think, stupid," she snorted.

Sage spoke up quietly, "It was Reese's… wasn't it?"

"Of course it was. You know how much Reese adores that girl. Bolin even more so."

Sun laughed, "Well we all love her. She's so cute!" Neptune agreed behind him.

This comment made both Blake and Weiss cringe on this inside. They didn't know who this girl was but already they felt inferior to her. They felt so jealous that they didn't want to look at the Haven boys.

Arslan scoffed, "Speak for yourself. You all love her because of her unspoken personality." Before anyone could say anymore, she pointed to a direction to her left, "We're over there. I wanted you to know before I kick them away from her leg and bring her to you." She left over in the direction she pointed at and after several minutes they could all hear the sound of sobbing. One person yelled, "My cinnamon roll, nooooo."

"Cinnamon… roll?" Ruby asked, "There's cinnamon rolls here!?"

"I didn't see any…" Pyrrha added.

Team SSSN didn't dare to correct them, they were afraid of telling them because of how impressionable and hyperactive Nora, Ruby and Yang seemed to be. Especially Nora.

Not a minute later did Arslan return with a shorter girl by her side. This girl was approximately 4'10" with brown wavy hair that went to her middle back and soft, icy blue eyes. She wore a light sage green jacket with brown inside and detail. Underneath that was a white corset that showed a small portion of her belly. Including brown tight pants and green, short, heeled boots. Her hair was pulled back enough that showed a pair of blue, curved earrings.

Arslan stepped back for the large amount of testosterone that came at the small girl. "Ahhhh we missed you!" Sun was the first to hug her, followed by Scarlet, then Neptune, then Sage.

"We had hoped you would come back before we left for the Festival," Sage pulled himself away from the hug, "But I guess the mission ran a little late, huh?"

Smiling sweetly, the girl nodded and moved her hands in a rhythmic pattern. She spoke no words, yet the Haven team understood what she was conveying.

This caught the others off guard, they didn't know what exactly what was going on, nor did they understand exactly why she wasn't speaking. Not until Lie Ren of Team JNPR stated, "She's a mute."

The girl tapped her nose as she pointed at Ren. Telling him he was right on the dot.

"I have to go," Arslan rubbed the back of her sore neck, they almost forgot that she was even there. "My team should still be crying over their lost 'cinnamon roll'. Honestly, what a stupid term." Arslan walked off before she could answer any of Ruby's questions.

SSSN said their goodbyes to ABRN's leader then turned to their new group of friends. "Guys," Sun began , "This is Lynessa Alseides. Lynn for short. She goes to Haven with us and is a… third year, I believe. Right, uh…." Sun watched Lynn take Neptune's goggles to apply them on her face. Weiss was not happy to watch this tiny girl do so.

Lynn signed and Neptune translated, "Yes. I am a third year of Haven Academy."

"It's a pleasure to meet you all."


	10. The White Light

"Why?" Silver stared at the Headmaster of her alma mater, with no emotion escaping her eyes. Qrow stood as far as he could away from her, he knew she was not happy to hear such a request from Ozpin.

"I think it would be nice for the students to gain insight from another Huntress. And, as a former winner of a Vytal Festival, it could be inspiring." Ozpin seemed pleased with himself over how much he had thought about this proposal.

"I.. don't think I have the skills needed to give a… lecture… to students. I-"

Ozpin cut her off, "Don't worry about that. You'll be just fine. Please, Silver. This will be good."

"...This is just payback from the other day, isn't it?" She deducted after thinking about it. Ozpin knew that Silver didn't do well with speaking in front of others. Performing in front of millions of people was nothing to her. Mainly because she performed for herself and didn't stop to think of the millions that watched her. She lived in the moment with her performances.

But speaking to just over 20 students in a lecture hall? No, she couldn't fathom to do such a thing. And Ozpin knew that.

Ozpin smiled and coyly tilted his head, "Oh? And why would I ever want to do that?" He was mad alright, about her and Qrow's little joke the other day. "I just _absolutely_ loved your little, _**dirty, disgusting,**_ gift."

"I can't run from this… can i?" She sorrowfully asked.

Ozpin's smile never faded.

"So, why are we all in the lecture room?" Sun Wukong, leader of Team SSSN of Haven Academy sat near Blake Belladonna of Team RWBY of Beacon Academy. All students that were involved in the Vytal Tournament, no matter their current standing, were gathered in one single room.

It looked like any other sort of class, as if there wasn't any Festival. Yet they were all allowed to wear their more comfortable outfits; school uniforms were not required.

"I have no idea…" Blake was just as perplexed as Sun was, looking around the room to see all of the students who entered into the Tournament. They both noticed this, and couldn't fully figure out why. What confused them even more were the Huntsmen at the back top of the lecture room. Sitting at their seats as if they were ready for a class lecture like any other.

The Headmaster of Beacon Academy, the Headmaster of Atlas Academy, Glynda Goodwitch, Qrow Branwen, Dr. Bartholomew Oobleck and Professor Peter Port. All sat in attendance for the lecture that was about to happen. To Blake, Ozpin seemed very pleased with himself. And he was.

"Hey, look." Sun gestured to Neptune, Weiss and Lynn who sat near each other. Neptune in the middle, which could mean trouble should Weiss's buttons be pushed.

Blake and Sun watched Lynn gesturing and Neptune replying to her gestures with some of his own. Weiss sat there, watching them, confused. After realizing that Weiss was being left out of the conversation, Lynn gestured to Neptune to help Weiss keep her in the loop. Apologizing to Weiss, he helped her translate to get Weiss into the conversation.

This impressed Blake. At first she thought that Lynn was going to be worse than Weiss was when first meeting her. She thought Lynn was going to keep the boys near her, as if she controlled them. But she seriously misunderstood Lynn, and felt terrible for ever thinking such a way.

"Man, Neptune is going to have a tough time." Sun whispered almost underneath his breath, but it was loud enough for Blake to hear.

"What do you mean?"

Sun noticed what he said as his eyes widened. Just then he felt as if he was Neptune himself, with the large mouth of his. "Nep… has adored Lynn for a while now. Close to a crush. I mean, in a way… we all did. One way or another."

Blake's heart skipped a beat, "So, you had feelings for her?"

"At first, I wasn't sure. Then Scarlet put that idea in my head, but in reality… I just saw her as more of a sister. We get along well."

"Is she..?" Blake pointed to Sun's tail underneath the table.

He chuckled and shaked his head, "No, she's human. Tiny, but human. Like a little pixie."

Blake shared a small laugh with him before the door to the lecture all opened. Out from the door, Silver Soteria walked to the front center of the room. She wore her usual attire, yet she seemed a tad tense. Blake had never seen this side of her aunt before.

Silver looked over at all the students who watched her with their questioning eyes. Her heart wouldn't stop beating so fast and so hard. She noticed the five instructors at the back of the room, her eyes instinctively going to Qrow, her eyes pleading for help. Qrow nodded to her, imitating a deep breathing motion.

Taking his advice she took a deep breath, expanding her abdomen, and exhaled. "All of you must be wondering why you're here. And I bet you don't want to be here. Neither do I.

"But, I was informed that speaking to you all would be good for you. Why? Well, to start with, have any of you noticed anything about the other students here?"

Weiss Schnee raised her hand instantly. Silver smiled and addressed the young huntress-in-training, "yes, Miss Schnee?"

"All of the students here have participated in the tournament."

Silver nodded, "Very good. And do you know why they have asked me to speak to you all?" Weiss scrambled to come up with an answer to this question. But a deeper voice answered for her, "You were the winner of the Tournament. Not only that but you were the leader of the team that won years ago. Had you and your team re-entered the competition, you would've won again. People at that time considered you to be the greatest team of your time."

Everyone was taken aback to hear the owner of the voice that spoke so little. Yang sat beside Ruby and stared at the deep-voiced student in awe. Not only her, but everyone there did. Silver's smile turned into a grin, "ooh. Look at you. You've finally decided to speak, Mr. Harceleur."

He remains still as ever, yet has a pleased, almost uncharacteristically smug smile on his face, and he answers this statement with a small nod of acknowledgement; yet he doesn't say anything more.

Silver turns back to her entire 'audience', "So, because I was forced into this. I will go off the path that other instructors go by. Instead of history or Grimm studies. Let's talk about Fables."

Yang noticed that the dark, brooding student lift an eyebrow slowly, his red eyes looking directed at Yang a little bit, as though silently commenting to her 'Fables, eh?' Yang shrugged to him as a reply, unsure herself as to what this Huntress was going to speak about. Ruby watched the two interact and lifted an eyebrow at the both of them.

"Now we all know stories like _The Tale of Two Brothers, The Shallow Sea, The Girl in the Tower_ , etcetera etcetera. Yet there have been stories that man has buried over the years. Stories that have lessons that many ignore. Similar to repeating sorrowful history."

Ruby Rose rose her hand up high enough for everyone to see, "Yes, Miss Rose?"

"What kind of stories did man… bury?" Ruby's eyes lit up with wonder, it was not difficult to notice how intrigued the youngest one in the room was.

"Stories of before the Light of the Kingdoms."

Pyrrha Nikos, a member of Team JNPR of Beacon asked without raising a hand. "Such a time existed?" She as well as everyone there, including the instructors, including Qrow had no idea a time, a Fable like that existed.

Silver nodded, "Yes. You see in the beginning, there was Dust; this I'm sure you all know. Dust became the earth, she became the Mother. And at some point she gave birth to the first Human and the first Faunus. A boy and a girl.

But the Mother raised them in different ways, different locations, apart and they had never met. Not until after 100 years of their birth-"

Arthur Grey decided to pitch in, "So they were immortal."

"Yes. Unlike other Men, they were born from the body of the Dust Mother, or Goddess, is another word to explain her. Thus they were granted a more precious gift than other Men. Anyway, when they first met they knew not of the other's origins. And it didn't take too long for them to fall in love."

"Incest?" Qrow lifted an eyebrow, questioning his girlfriend.

"Unknowingly incest, but yes. Incest. But such a thing was common a long time ago. But they weren't entirely ignorant. After their 3rd child they discovered their similar… parent."

Nora Valkyrie raised her hand up high, as if enthralled by the incest love story, "How many children did they have?"

Silver chuckled, "Seven. And with these seven children they created a sort of army to protect the humans."

"So all of them, except the one child of the 'Dust Mother' were Faunus?" Yang asked

"Yes. It was the husband that was human."

Nebula Violette, leader of Team NDGO of Shade Academy raised her hand, "So were there Grimm before the Kingdoms?"

"Of course. It was said that the first Grimm were created by the Dark Aura within a person. And that Aura consumed the body to form something… darker. It was speculated that Grimm were once Faunus, thus their animal-like appearance."

Cardin Winchester added, "So Faunus have always been so… blood-thirsty."

Every Faunus and more glared at the ignorant student, some of them (like Noir) glared at him with much hate over his racism. They all glared at him, even Silver found herself glaring, for several seconds before returning their glares to the front of the room. Silver noticed some of the student's nose flared.

"Not exactly, Mr. Winchester. The story could have been made to demonize Faunus for others' agendas. Doesn't necessarily make it true. Please learn fact from fiction."

The ones who had glared at Cardin, laughed this time. Cardin himself seemed to be uncomfortable with the fact that everyone was laughing at him. Silver was very pleased with herself.

Once the laughter died down, she returned to her lecture, "The origin of this story is actually connected to that of the Xander. The first known Faunus to turn into a Beowolf. Which brings up that speculation that all Grimm were once Faunus. But then again, there is no evidence to prove this. And after all. It is just a story."

"Yet some stories are derived from the truth," Ozpin added. He obtained the attention of the students, to which they could all see Qrow drinking from his flask. Qrow paused for a second then returned to drinking, without any care in the world. Silver could only smirk at her boyfriend's antics, she knew he'd be drinking during _her_ lecture.

"Xander was the name of the family that formed its own 'army'. And as I said before there were seven children of the Human male and Faunus woman. The seventh child was the only Xander daughter. She was also the wife of the first Faunus who turned into a Beowolf."

Professor Glynda Goodwitch raised her hand to ask a question, "What made the husband turned into a creature of Grimm?"

Silver stood there for a bit, thinking as to how she should answer the question. The answer was a rough and terrible one, but Silver saw no other way to put it to the students.

"You see… Faunus were seen to be the protectors of the humans. They were thought to have much power, and thus were respected and awed. But just like some of today's humans, the humans back then had a fearful panic that the Faunus were the ones who were organizing attacks using the Grimm to attack the humans. No one knows who put those thoughts together, but they were there. And when people are afraid; when fear is thick in their hearts… they will do some drastic things.

"The daughter, the White Light, as they called her, was the only Xander child who bore other children. And on a full moon, humans rose to 'overthrow' the Xander, the symbol of the Faunus army. The White Light's children were murdered in front of her and her husband. In pain the husband's Aura turned to darkness and was thus transformed into a Beowolf. The Xander sons were murdered as well; they would not fight the people they swore to protect.

"The Beowolf that was once her husband had begun to attack the people who killed the Xander family. And with sorrow in her own heart, the daughter rose her sword to strike her husband, to stop him, to uphold her honor as a protector and a wife.

"The humans, as thanks, gave the daughter some time to flee. So she did. But she would not allow herself to stop moving forward. She gathered remaining Faunus all around to create the Faunus Kingdom, under her guidance."

Yang Xiao Long sorrowfully added, "She would feel sad to know that the Kingdom she worked so hard for, after something so tragic, was overrun by Atlas."

"Yes, she probably would be…" Silver's voice trailed off, then she sighed, "So… that's all I had in mind really for this lecture. We have… fuck… 30 minutes left…. Well any questions? I mean, you are in the presence of a Tournament winner."

"How do you know all of this if none of this has been recorded by historians or fable tellers? Why aren't we learning this in our classes?" Arslan Altan of Team ABRN of Haven Academy asked.

"These types of stories are… just that. Stories. But there probably was a woman who was known as the White Light. But the main reason why barely anyone knows it is because history is created by the victors. And the victors probably refused the telling of before the Kingdoms, some stories have probably escaped those barriers. But the Faunus have passed down these stories orally. Never truly recording it on paper, like the victors had. Traditions have been passed down to each generation. Even families without Faunus heritage have some of these traditions. It's all…. Complicated. Anyone else?"

A hand slowly raises and Noir Harceleur's expression remains as flat as ever, "This talk of fables in interesting, and I'm sure we've all learned a thing or two from hearing them." His eyes narrow a bit at Silver and he seems to get extremely serious, "however….there is one thing I need to ask."

"Yes, Mr. Harceleur?"

Yang stares at Noir, as if hearing his voice twice in a single day was something of a rare occurrence. Coco Adel, leader of Team CFVY of Beacon Academy, whispered to her teammate Velvet Scarlatina about Noir, "If he's talking, then he's really interested."

Fox Alistair of Team CFVY overheard Coco's comment and whispered to himself, "like getting you into bed."

Coco blushed, "well… that's…" She struggled to find the right words to explain to her current boyfriend about her ex-boyfriend.

"I know. It's all in the past."

"...Yeah." She put her hand over Fox's and smiled a tiny bit; she could see Fox with a smile of his own.

For one long moment Noir is silent as he looks Silver right in the eyes and he finally opens mouth and says in the flattest and most monotonic way possible, "do you not notice your headpiece is slipping?"

Silver quickly reached the top of her head to feel that her headpiece is still intact, where she has always had it. Qrow, in the background, started to laugh his ass off. Slightly embarrassed, Silver found a piece of chalk to whip it at Qrow's face. A few students giggled, some snickered at the couple's shenanigans.

He smirked rather smugly and let Qrow have his laugh before saying, "Okay, okay, in all seriousness. _You_ , as we all know won Vytal all those years ago, quite impressively I should add, I watched the archived footage." He paused for a moment, knowing every eye in the classroom is on him. "My real question is….why didn't you re-enter at the next tournament two years later?"

Qrow's eyes widened, as well as the other instructors present. Silver stands there silent for what seemed to be forever.

"That's…" She took a deep breath before continuing, "After the Vytal Festival, and when my team and I became 2nd years… We were sent to a mission. It was supposed to be like any other. You, Mr. Harceleur, should know this by now, being a 2nd year yourself… but our mission… when horribly wrong…. And next thing you knew.. I was heading back to Atlas, giving my teammate's families the last thing that they had left. Their weapons…"

Noir sat there, his eyes looking right into Silver's as though searching them, to see if she wasn't telling the truth; for a long moment the classroom is eerily silent, and after a long, drawn out moment, Noir stood and said in a voice that sounded uncharacteristically on the verge of breaking. "I'm sorry…..I…." It was the first time in his life that Noir was speechless. Not knowing what else to do, he turned and left the classroom without saying a word to anyone else, not even looking at anyone as he passed them.

All the first year students and non-Beacon second years were confused, "Why did he…?" Jaune Arc asked without knowing who he was actually asking. He didn't even think his question was heard, but Silver answered.

"He is the same as I. Last year, he too lost his team. Midas Turo and Sherry Vulpa. Their leader Check Cremissi dropped out and no one has seen him since. He is all that remains of Team CSMN (Crimson) as I am all that remains of Team SLVR."

Without a second thought, Qrow stood from his seat to walk to Silver, making sure she was okay. He knew that talking about Lakshmi, Ven and Rah is one most difficult things for her. And it would never get better.

Leaning on Qrow she gathered her mental strength to say one last piece of advice, "That's another thing you students need to be aware of. Your own lives. Even as you graduate you still have the chance of death. Team STRQ, that once stood proud and tall even as they graduated fell apart with a disappearance and a death. Rely on your teammates and friends, work together and do not venture off alone. You could pay for it dearly…"

After what seemed to be a millenia of silence, Qrow looked at the students with one of his more serious faces, "Class dismissed." He lead Silver away from the lecture room to their temporary room to help her recover. He knew her mind was getting… dark.

Yang ran after Noir.


	11. Blackness Descending, Fire Rising

After leaving the classroom, Noir had ventured out of the building completely, and now stood at the cliffs where the airships would be normally. He just stood there, looking out over the City of Vale, silently as all his terrible memories return, his entire being racked with emotion as he struggled to remain stable.

Yang ran all around, trying to find the Faunus who ran out of the classroom in a hurry. As if he was trying to run away from the past that continued to haunt him. She saw him out of the school window, and found the nearest exit to run over to him. "Noir!"

His body tenses for a split second as he heard Yang call out to him. He turns slightly, though not fully, to show he heard her, "Yang…"

"Hey!" She catches up to him, but stops abruptly after she realized one important thing, "You knew… my name."

Embarrassed, he looks away a bit before perking up slightly and looking back at her, "How did you know mine…?"

It was her turn to be embarrassed, "uhhhh," She gently grabs a strand of her hair to toy around with it as she said the truth, "I uh… was super interested in your fights. Taking them on all by yourself… I… I'd like to fight you in the finals." She slowly looks at him to see him turned towards her completely, his emotions written all over his face, though his voice is kept determinedly flat. "Is that so" She nodded in response to his question.

His eyes turned down to the floor and he nods slightly, "Hmm….why?"

"I like the challenge. I know that you're a formidable opponent…. And well it'd be fun!"

"That's not what I meant, exactly…" For the first time, Noir's vividly red eyes meet Yang's own lilac ones. "Why were you interested?"

" …. Your eyes… remind me of my younger self."

He doesn't speak for a moment yet retains this unblinking gaze into Yang's eyes; his own seeming to be guarded, and yet searching; as though shielded with blades. "My eyes…". He paused for a moment as though debating with himself whether or not to continue before saying, "Have seen far more than I care to admit….or to remember. And that you would see yourself in them…." Not even for a moment did his gaze flinch, "….that's…..different."

She gives a small smirk, "What can I say? I've been told that I'm full of surprises. It's just so… Yangy."

He doesn't reply to this immediately, but looks away for a moment, shaking himself and breathing in deeply, as if he was trying to shake off that terrible pun. "That….you are indeed. And I wager surprises aren't the only thing you're full of…... _Firecracker."_

Yang's eyes widened as her face reddened to that of a tomato, "H-how did you know…? That nickname… only-"

He cut her off, sounding slightly, or even very, amused, "I hear things."

Yang's face reddened even further, "What kind of things?"

"Things only someone with my auditory acuity can detect." He just leaves it at that.

"THAT"S TOO VAGUE! I need exact answers!"

He raised an eyebrow, "Put it _this_ way. With my acuity of hearing, I've heard many things that would be better left unheard….Coco and Fox in the middle of the night for example."

Confused she asked, "What, like playing a card game or something?" Yang truthfully had no idea that the two were dating.

Noir had actually started to smirk, "Are you _sure_ you want me to answer that?"

"Maybe I do… Maaaaybeeee."

He rolls his eyes a little before explaining cryptically, "Let's just say that Coco has a very….. _unique_ way of shouting a name while trying not to be heard."

Finally the light bulb turns brightly on inside the blonde's head. "How would _you_ know that?"

Now it was Noir's turn to flush red. He doesn't immediately answer before saying, "Well, um…...Coco…..you see, uh, she and I…."

"Ooooohhhh," Yang grinned at Noir, "You tapped dat, didn't you? You lucky dog!"

"Bat," He corrected her, "but yes…..I, to use the phrase you did, 'tapped dat.'" He created air quotations with his index and middle fingers when saying 'tapped dat'. "Though there are far more subtle ways to convey such information not that I would want to especially with someone I barely know and only have seen several times." He's saying all of this in a rapid, low tone as though saying it faster would spare him the embarrassment. It did not, for Yang caught it all and continued with her grinning.

But she chuckled before agreeing, "That's true. Then let's get to know each other! Then break each other in the Finals!" She held out her hand to him, open and ready to shake, "Hi! I'm Yang Xiao Long!"

He looks at her and then for the first time since she's ever seen him, he breaks into a genuine smile, not a small smirk or a grin, a legitimate smile. He reached out and shook her hand firmly, her hand just as firm, "Noir Harceleur."

* * *

In the distance, Ozpin watches the scene that unfolded between Yang Xiao Long and Noir Harceleur. He sipped his coffee in his hand, his other holding his cane firmly. He was glad that Noir was, in a way, reaching out to another student that could help him brighten his darkness.

"You wanted to see me, sir?"

Ozpin turned to see first year, Pyrrha Nikos stand in front of this desk, looking at him with curiosity.

"Yes, Miss Nikos. Please, have a seat."


	12. The Crystal

"They come and they go. They stay and keep near, showing love and happiness. Giving hope. At least, most do. Some don't. Some use it as a means of gaining power or attempting to destroy what has been 'thriving' for thousands of years. I have seen it more times than desired. The destruction that resulted from a gift, given as a simple act of kindness. But was it really? Was it given to protect the people? To help them in times of peril against the Grimm and further on. Or was it to doom them? Let them fight over a power to ultimately destroy the remains of this world.

"Little is said these days, as Fall is to be chosen.

Was it worth it? The gift of -"

She could not say the final word. Her voice, her will would not allow her to, no matter how much her heart wanted to hear it.

The room around her was filled with what appeared to be naturally-grown dust crystals of different colors. Orange, blue, light-blue, green, yellow, red, grey, purple. They adorned the largest crystal among them. The one that sat in the center and the object to which Silver was talking to. This crystal was special, as it was a vibrant, pure white color. The color of Light in its truest form.

Silver sat before it, being watched by the statues of the Maidens. In each corner of the room there was one Maiden in each. The Maidens of the Four Seasons. A fairy tale had been told in accordance to these Maidens.

A long time ago a hermit lived alone and was one day visited by four sisters. This man was old and callous, never wishing to leave his home. The first understood his reclusive nature and urged him to use his time in solitude to reflect and meditate. The second brought him fruits and flowers, tending his crops and revitalizing his third warmed the man's heart, convincing him to step outside and embrace the world around him. And the fourth and final sister begged him to look at all that he has, and be thankful. In return for their kindness, the man granted the maidens incredible powers, so that they may continue to help others all over the world. They graciously accepted, and promised to share their gifts with the people of Remnant 'til the end of days.

A tale that many have known, telling their children it or being told as children. But they didn't know that there was truth to this tale. There did live four Maidens. And there was an old hermit. Yet, no one else knew the rest of the tale.

When the Maidens set off to bring happiness upon Remnant from the hermit's farm, the hermit smiled to himself as he crystallized into dust. His power was gone. There was nothing left for him there. He knew that when the day came, Light will shine for him to be reborn anew.

It was a section of the tale that was better off alone.

The crystal that stood before her was the hidden Crystal of the Maiden tale. This crystal was the hermit itself. Living as it did for thousands of years, watching and waiting for the day to be reborn anew.

Silver sat in front of it, her knees on the floor keeping herself upright. She would look over this crystal even if they were far apart. She would pray to this crystal, during the times that she needed guidance. At this moment, she needed guidance more than anything. Guidance for the problems that have been risen in the past year.

It started with her rekindled relationship with Qrow. Back during their days at Beacon, it was more intimate more… open. Yet Qrow was distancing himself from her, something he never did before. And given that she only saw him a few times during her year and a half tour, it had bothered her. But she understood the reason behind it, she had no reason to complain about it. Yet, she didn't know what to do about the situation.

But there were more grave matters to deal with. The assailant of the Fall Maiden, Amber, roamed the streets of Vale in some way or another with half of her power. Something was to happen and no one knew what to do about it. The best chance they had of keeping the assailant from doing any more damage was to give the other half of Amber's power to a new host. Silver was deeply conflicted with the idea of transferring the power to a new host. That host would not only inherit Amber's power, but her Aura as well. It was the only way to transfer the power to another.

The way the Maidens worked, at least what is so far known, is the Maiden changes from one female to another. When she dies her power leaves her body and seeks out a new host, ensuring that the seasons are never lost, and that no individual can hold on to that power forever. A Maiden is chosen by its predecessor, chosen upon death as the dying Maiden thinks of the new power's host. If a male or older woman is thought of, then the selection is random.

Yet with Fall's power split into two, it was unsure as to what would happen once Amber passes. The most logical explanation would be that the halves would rejoin together within the living host's body. That living host being the enemy of the Kingdoms. It would not bode well with the protectors of Remnant.

"..It used to be common knowledge," a voice echoed into the Crystal Sanctuary, it was soft but she could hear it with her hidden ears. Silver was so deep in thought she had not heard the voices that echoed throughout the corridors for the past several minutes.

Sounded like Glynda… Silver thought as she stood to her feet, her legs slightly wobbling from the slight loss of circulation, accompanied by the 'pins and needles' feeling, due to the way she sat.

She left the Crystal Sanctuary back into the long corridors of Beacon's Vault. A vast and dimly-lit place with wall-mounted torches that casted a pale-green light. A secret place only for those of the inner circle of a brotherhood that existed for thousands of years. As old as the story of the Maidens, it was unsure how long they existed, but they did. And Silver was in the middle of all of it.

She followed the sound of the voices that grew with each step she took, "Our group was founded in order to protect both mankind and the Maidens. Those hungry for power hunted them with the hope of inheriting their strength."

She spotted a group of five in front of the sleeping maiden within the Atlesian life-support pod. Three of which had their backs to her, the fourth looked in Silver's general direction, yet didn't seem to actually see her. The three she recognized as Glynda, Ozpin, Qrow and Ironwood. The fifth appeared to be a student, the apparent next Fall Maiden, Pyrrha Nikos.

Qrow's gruff voice followed Glynda's, "And as you can imagine, the one's that succeeded weren't exactly the ones you'd want to have unimaginable power."

"And so," James concluded, "our brotherhood chose to remove the Maidens from the public eye, allowing their existence to fade away into legend."

Glynda sighed as she thought aloud, "The things we're telling you go against hundreds of years of human history and religion. No one would believe us if we told the public. It would cause an uproar."

Silver stood still as she listened into their conversation, her arms crossed and her eyes leveled, watching the young first-year.

"It would cause panic. And we all know what that will bring to clawing at our Kingdom's walls," Ozpin added, turning his gaze away from the other huntsmen onto the student. "Which is why-"

"I'll do it," Pyrrha spoke with resolve, staring at the ground as all five Huntsmen present watched her, "If you believe that this will help humanity, then I will become your Fall Maiden."

Qrow, Ozpin, Glynda and James looked at one another warily. Silver chuckled before making her way towards the group, "I'm afraid it isn't that simple, Pyrue," She startled all five of them, relaxing as the Huntsmen realized that she may have been in the Crystal Sanctuary. Her usual spot.

"You're…" Pyrrha was confused as to why Silver was there, "Blake's aunt… right?" Silver replied with a nod.

"I have to admit, Pyrue, you're quite brave. But as I said, it isn't that simple." Silver moved past the human wall that the Huntsmen created to stand before the young Maiden-to-be.

Pyrrha ignored the 'Pyrue' name, even Qrow ignored it, he didn't want to know why 'Pyrue' out of all things to nickname the girl. Pyrrha continued with the issue at hand, "What do you mean?"

"Well," Silver turned to face the fallen Fall Maiden, her eyes solemn, "Given Bibi's condition, you won't be able to inherit her power naturally." Silver couldn't help but say Amber's nickname, she couldn't handle the tension that was infused with the air.

Silver turned to glare at Ironwood as she continued, "for the past few years, Atlas, has been studying Aura from a more… empirical perspective; how it works, what it's made of, how it can be used. They've made significant strides, from what I've seen in the past month. They believe they've finally found a way to capture it." Disgust was all that could be heard in Silver's words. No love, no empathy, just hated and disgust.

Qrow entered into the Atlas-hating bandwagon, "Capture it and cram it into something else. Yet in your case…" He gestured to Pyrrha, making a slight suggestion.

Pyrrha stood there as she tried to fit all of the pieces together into a perfect picture. It finally clicked. The young huntress-in-training watched Ironwood in horror, "That's…"

"Classified," He tried to defend himself.

"Wrong!"

In order to calm Pyrrha down, Silver held her close in a motherly embrace. She could feel Pyrrha shiver in horror as all this information came to her all at once. "I know, Pyrue, I know." Silver rubbed the top of Pyrrha's head, noticing that the girl was calming herself down, "I'm so sorry for doing this to you, but we're desperate. If we weren't, I wouldn't allow this sort of thing to happen. Her Aura will pass on to you… I cannot stress how much I wish this won't happen. But the alternative is much more grim." Silver pushed Pyrrha away from the embrace with her hands on Pyrrha's shoulders, the same shoulders that felt much weight upon them.

With saddened amethyst eyes watching a frightened shade of green ones, Silver gave her one more warning, "If you decide to do this, you're life and hers would become intertwined, merged, never to break apart until death. But nothing like this has happened before. We're unsure as to what's going to happen once this is done. So please, take some time to think about this. There is no guarantee this transfer will work and no guarantee that you'll stay to be the same person as you are now."

"You have until the end of the Vytal Festival," Ozpin added, noticing the silvery aura that was Silver's crack in the center of her chest. Silver felt so useless to help this girl before her, unable to keep her away from the danger she was being thrown into. Silver was unable to be the Fall Maiden, yet if she had the choice, she would take it without another thought.

Pyrrha didn't respond to anything the two Huntsmen said, instead placing her hand on the glass of Amber's life support pod, separating the current Fall Maiden from her potential replacement. She was able to view her scared expression upon the scarred face of the dying girl. Unable to take it anymore, she turned away from her expected destiny. 

* * *

Returned to the Crystal Sanctuary, Silver blankly looked at the Dust crystal that bore great importance.

"You'd be a great mother," a gruff voice was heard.

"Trying to tell me something, Qrow?" She felt a large hand on her back as she examined the crystal even more.

"Just saying that you really helped with that kid, you're good with them."

She snorted, "Only because I'm the cool aunt rather than the annoying, doting mother."

Qrow inclined his head, rubbing the small of Silver's back, trying to comfort her as she slightly shivered. Qrow never fully understood Silver's fixation on the large item nor did he understand exactly why she even prayed to it during its maintenance.

"With all that has been happening…" Silver's words threw Qrow off of his train of thought, "I fear that sometime may be approaching. I'm… afraid."

Qrow held his precious silver gem close to him as she shook from fear. He didn't know what to say to her, but he always knew what he could do for her.

She pulled back from his embrace, smiling sweetly up at him, then returning her gaze to the Crystal. Her smile instantly faded away. "I fear… that Chaos shall be upon us."


	13. Author's Note: Revamping

Yo!

To those of you who still follow The Forgotten.

I know it's been a long time since I've uploaded a chapter for this story. Trust me, It's bugging me too.

But I'd like to tell you why.

1\. I was in a state of deep depression. For now, I'm all gooooood.

2\. While I was working on the concept art for Lynn (my cinnamon roll) I realized that I used some things that I used for Silver's outfit for Lynn. And this... ooooh I was pissed at myself. But the idea that I had for Lynn looked so much better than the one for Silver. So I had decided to re-do Silver's outfit.

3\. I also noticed while looking at Silver's concept art that she doesn't seem as... professional... I guess I would use that word... as the other Huntsmen do (Qrow, Ozpin, Glynda, ect.) She looks like she has the design of a student. The superior or "senpai" "Auntie" type of feel isn't really in it. So that's another reason why I decided to re-do Silver.

Mainly I'm redoing Silver.

But another thing...

4\. I noticed that I rushed things in the story and now I would like to add some more things in between. So if you're still waiting and waiting. I may have put a new chapter inbetween previous ones. That and I will be rewriting certain parts of the story all-together.

I'm so sorry for doing this to you guys...

But I also plan on doing a new story of the past. Back when Qrow, Silver, Taiyang and the rest were in school! Like a blast to the past. So I"m working on Team SLVR's concept art. (Before you ask. I'm not a great artist. or a good one for that matter. I just like having an idea of what the character looks like.)

Again I'm so sorry.

Thanks for understanding,

NaelaNightshade


	14. Cat and Crow

Qrow led Silver out of the Vault, her thoughts still haunting her every step out of the way. He felt helpless that he couldn't fully understand what was going on through her head. He could never seem to understand all of what Silver would say or think. At times, she would speak in riddles; riddles that Qrow just couldn't decipher. He liked that about her. And at the same time, he didn't.

She always seemed to be hiding something from Qrow; something he realized after they started dating the second time around. He would never want to force it out of her, so he waited for her to talk to him when the time came.

Originally, Qrow was planning on taking Silver back to their guest suite, but quickly changed his plans.

"I found a bar near here… How about we go and get hammered?" Qrow suggested, grinning slyly. Silver lifted an eyebrow at him questioningly, to which he elaborated his idea, "none of the kiddy shit that I occasionally-"

"You mean almost _always_ do?"

"... Yeah that. But the top tier, forgetting in the morning drinking".

Silver shifted her legs, "I don't know. Remember last time we did that? We had to practically unveil a mystery of what we did."

Qrow laughed, "We had to apologize to everyone that we encountered."

" _I_ apologized to everyone. You just stood there nonchalantly. Do you know how much lien I lost that morning?"

"To which I paid you back in full." He added, trying to soften the hard truth of the morning after their drinking fiasco in a small village in Mistral.

Silver giggled, remembering his 'payment'; to Qrow, seeing her smile for just a second meant that he won. During their time in the Academy, he first saw her as someone serious. Someone that would fit the perfect stereotype of a leader, to which she was trying so hard to fit the role for. Yet, after he go to know her and see her how she was away from the classroom, he knew that there was so much to this silver-haired beauty.

The dusty crow set a hand on his songbird's back, "So… what do you say?"

She stood there for a while as she thought it over before smiling at him, "Fine." Quickly, yet firmly she tapped the posterior of her man twice before walking slowly away from him, "you win. Let's get plastered, baby."

"Oh ho! I'm liking the sound of that!"

* * *

It didn't take them long to get alcohol in their system, but the effect they desired took more time than they wished. Shot glasses and a few whiskey glasses cluttered their table, the stench of liquor filled their noses. They didn't mind. How could they? They were utterly drunk.

It didn't stop them from having a good laugh with one another, about one thing or the other. Even more embarrassing times still amused them; in the world of alcohol, everything felt more numb than usual.

"I s'ere, babe. When Tai 'old me that story, I just really want to see you in a skirt!" Silver's words slightly slurred.

"Ass'ole told me it was a kilt! But the ladies loooooved my legs!" Qrow stood, slightly tipping to one side as he put one leg on his chair to imitate a seducing woman. "They loooved what they 'ere seeing!"

"I know I do!" They both laughed together from Qrow's experience from the beginning his schooldays at Beacon, when he wore a uniform for the first time.

Qrow sat back down, picking up the whiskey glass to sip from, "I felt better after seeing Ven do it from a dare."

Silver laughed uncontrollably as she thought about her old teammate in a female's uniform, swaying his skirt and getting whistled at by female classmates. "Ven… stayed in that thing for a w'ole week! He loved it so much!"

"Boy looked good in that skirt! Oh, I'm sorry, _kilt_."

They laughed for several seconds before calming down once more. Silver took a sip from her glass and set it back down on the table. Thinking about times from when her old team lived… when Team SLVR lived… it brought a small sense of closure to her. Something she truly hadn't tried to find all those years ago.

"They… They were amazing people… Ven… Rah… Lak… Sunnie…. I miss them all."

Qrow set his drink down, his gaze fixated on the glass in his hands, "You know that what happened to them… isn't your fault. You shouldn't blame yourself for just… surviving."

"In a way Qrow, it _is_ my fault. I was Leader of Team SLVR, I was responsible for their lives. I was there with Summer when she died. I do hold some sort of responsibility with what happened to them. And I know that."

Qrow picked up his head to see Silver struggling with her emotions from the weight of loss that she felt for the longest time. Qrow felt the same as she; he was not without regret, he had done things that he wished could have been different. But he knew that there was nothing he could do now to change what happened then. Silver knew too. But there were nights where it completely tore her up inside. All the things that could have been. All the things that can never be again.

"Sil… There's nothing we can do for the departed now. But there is something that we can do for the living. Like our nieces, friends and even the kids who look up to us. We can protect them, prepare them for what's to come. To learn from our mistakes, to not repeat history. Isn't that what you told those kids?" Qrow set his hand on Silver's trembling one. They both had been experiencing so many emotions as of late.

Silver grasped the hand that held hers, not willing to let go of it. "I know, Qrow… I know. Heh, throwing my words back at me, huh?" Her trembling had stopped, her usual calm composure was resurfacing.

He grinned, "Well, if it works, it works."

She couldn't argue with that one.

* * *

They walked back together to their suite, hand in hand without any word spoken between them. They couldn't help but enjoy the night in silence, the breeze blowing through their hair, gently kissing their skin. A group of teenagers were heard being rambunctious, acting like the children they were meant to be. An older couple were seen holding a child in their arms in the presence of the parents.

Qrow wondered, as they passed that couple, what would it have been like had Silver and he married. Would they have a child as well? Would he or she be around Ruby or Yang's age? Or in between? What would its name be? What kind of color would they name it?

Silver, on the other hand, thought about the days when she was a child, after passing the teenagers. The days when things seemed so much more simpler. Laughing with her brothers, training so hard to impress said brothers. Yes, the times of childhood were much simpler than that of an adult.

By the time they reached their suite, they had, for the most part, sobered up. Qrow's hand released Silver's as he opened the door. Silver walking into the bare room that they were sharing. The first room in a long time that they lived in together, back when their nieces were still very little. Once the door closed, they had spoken once more. "You sober?" Silver asked, removing her boots.

"Unfortunately." Qrow responded.

"Good."

"Good? The fuck do you mean, g-" His lips were captured by hers when he turned to face her. She had caught him off guard, but he was used to her doing things such as this. He quickly wrapped his arms around her waist to pull her in closer to him.

The kiss parted slowly, practically making Qrow whimper, "You know my policy about alcohol." Silver stated, wryly grinning at the man.

"The fuck I do," Qrow re-captured the lips of his enchanting seductress, lifting her up from the floor, allowing Silver to wrap her legs around his waist. There was no doubt that he was strong enough to hold her up; he could hold onto her for hours. As Huntsmen, they were both physically fit to stay in this position for a long period of time.

The kiss parted for Qrow to drop Silver onto the bed, on her back. "So it's not as they say", Qrow grinned as he looked down at her. "Cats don't always land on their feet."

She giggled as Qrow gently removed her headpiece to expose her feline ears. She could tell that his gaze was fixated on them and sat up so that his attention was back onto her. He couldn't hold himself any longer and captured her lips, adding his tongue to dance with hers. Slowly, Silver laid back down on the bed on her back with Qrow on top of her, her arms wrapped around his neck. Qrow's body nestled in between her parted legs, both fully clothed. His hand slide up to her head to gently rub her sensitive feline ears.

She softly purred within the kiss, her face flushed with embarrassment. "I love it when you do that", Qrow smiled as he continued to touch her ears with a gentle hand.

"I hate it when I do that. Makes me feel less of a badass and more of a cute, cuddly kitten." Silver pouted, still slightly purring as she did so.

"You are a badass. No one can take that from you. But you're also my cute, cuddly, beautiful feline goddess."

"What does that make you then, Kaw?" She couldn't help but use her silly nickname for Qrow.

"Hmmm," He thought for a moment, "I suppose I'm just the bird you caught for a meal."

"My _eternal_ meal," She whispered as she unbuttoned his dress shirt to reveal his bare chest, his muscles hard from constantly fighting Grimm. He fully removed his shirt and shoes before throwing them onto the floor; they were of no use to him at this moment.

Silver sat up again, fiddling with the crooked cross necklace that Qrow wore for as long as she knew him. "Wanna know what sounds nice..?" She inquired, her eyes never leaving the necklace. "What sounds nice, hon?" Qrow pulled her into a small embrace, enjoying this moment with her.

"A back massage."

Qrow sat still for several seconds before replying to her, "Not surprised." He kissed the top of her head before adding, "Lay down on your belly, baby."

Giddily, Silver started to lay on her belly on the bed, but Qrow stopped her. "Pay the price first." He demanded. It was not his most favorite thing to do for her, giving a back massage. But he knew it made her happy, yet he wanted to get something out of it from her.

She did not hesitate in taking off her coat then corset in front of him then laying on her stomach. That was his price. A fully shirtless Silver Soteria on his dinner plate. It made it easier for him to massage her back.

He had to move the long, flowing, white hair that reminded him of a water stream in the middle of winter. Her hair was pushed to her side to reveal the other reason why he required her to be shirtless. Silver's intricate, detailed tattoo of a crescent lunar moon. His hands rubbed over several sections of the tattoo, gently tracing the details of it with his finger.

His soft kisses were felt going down her back near her hips, making her blush. No matter how many times she spent the night (or day) with him, he always knew how to make her blush. "Enjoying that?" He asked, grinning so wickedly.

Silver chuckled, "You know the answer to that".

His grin never left him as his hand gently touched her inner thigh up to the core of her body, ever so lightly. "And now?"

Silver's voice held its ground to prevent him getting any sort of satisfaction, "eh." Her mission became a success, he was not satisfied with such a bland word. As punishment, without warning he firmly grasps her posterior. Her small squeak of a reaction was all that he needed to feel in charge again. "How about now?"

"Fuuuuuuuuck you" Her face grew red for reverting back into the cute, cuddly, kitten.

He slide his hands down back into her inner thighs, gently massaging them, "not yet, my feline goddess. Not yet."

"How much longer?"

"A lot"

Twenty minutes had passed, full of Qrow's endless torture of teasing upon his silver beauty. From soft kisses down her back to a firm grip on her bosom; he was in control, and she desired him so.

But even the Grimm Reaper had his limits, and Qrow was approaching his first wall. With her help, more items of their clothing scattered all around the room. Silver could feel the heat of his body on her own, but she craved even more. As did he.

As it is with all men, he required her help to slide himself into her gently. His hips moved as he stared into her amethyst eyes, watching her create so many faces that excited him even more. He fiercely thrusted himself, digging down the rabbit hole as deep as he could go. Her soft sounds became one large, long and loud sound. Her nails dug deep into his back, scratching him near the border of drawing blood. This continued for several more times, until his arms tired, settling for laying ontop of her.

Silver could feel the sweat on Qrow's body as he rested, gently caressing his hair and cradling him against her chest. She felt so much at peace, being with the one she loved. He blew raspberries in the center of her chest while moving his head side to side with speed. They laughed together, both sitting up, neither within the other. Neither feeling whole.

"Lay on your back, Kaw." Silver demanded of him, and he obliged his goddess.

She climbed ontop of him this time, slowly inserting him within her. As the process was completed, she felt whole once more. She felt complete. Her hips moved ever so slightly, Qrow's hands holding her waist protectively. Her speed picks up and Qrow's grip on her tightens.

"Sil…" Qrow's voice let out in a soft whisper. Her acute hearing doesn't allow him to get away with it.

"Yes...Kaw...Qrow... _amin n'at runya_?"

Such a beautiful language that Qrow could not understand, "You're so beautiful…" He stood up and held her close. Silver's hips never ceased moving, holding his broad, muscular body as close as she could. After several small strokes, Silver's body began shivering as if a cold breeze gently brushed against her skin. The shivering grew and grew until a fierce winter fell upon her. She let out a large sound that excited Qrow to quickly approach his second wall of limits. A warm summer caressed Silver's body; her shivering had stopped.

"You never cease to amaze me, Sil." Qrow complemented, laying her down on her back once more.

"I could say the same to you." She retorted.

He continued his strokes, but this time even stronger and faster than before. He was quickly approaching that second wall and he was aiming for it.

Yet his aimed marked the chest of the woman who laid before him, watching him with eyes full of hope, despair and greed.

She was far from finished with him, and he knew it.

"Challenged accepted, Miss Soteria."


	15. Falling

"Now, for the moment you've all been waiting for! The one-on-one finals!" Peter Port exclaimed to fuel the fire that was the excitement of the crowd. The finalists were shown, among them were Yang Xiao Long, Mercury Black, Sun Wukong, Noir Harceleur, Penny Polendina, Pyrrha Nikos and two others.

'Barty' had explained the rules of the finals match. Each round of the finals would be randomly selected immediately before the start of a match. And like any good hunt, they would have zero time to prepare.

"Now, let's see who our first match will be!" Professor Oobleck exclaimed with excitement, pointing out to the screens above the stadium. The two roulette started spinning, each of the final competitors' faces shown rapidly. The first roulette stopped, showing the blonde brute, Yang Xiao Long's profile. The second then stopped, showing the metallic sassman, Mercury Black's profile.

"Now would all other combatants please leave the stage!"

The crowd was cheering, Yang couldn't hear much of what each individual was saying. But she could always make out her little sister's voice, "Break a leg, sis!" Yang smiled to herself, she was representing Team RWBY in the finals. So she was going to give the audience quite the show on this night.

"Hey," the low voice of Noir Harceleur brought her back to her senses. Yang glanced over at his direction. "Don't forget your promise."

"Heh, me? Never. I'll see you in the Finals!" Yang replied, her resolve growing.

Noir shook his head with a small smirk before walking away from the arena. She was left alone with Mercury now. The spotlights rose from the stage to shine on the two combatants on the battlefield. Both had a gleam of amusement in their eyes, anticipation building up.

"Better not go easy on me." Yang joked.

Mercury rolled his eyes, "heh. You wish."

Battle stances were now in play, their heart beating faster by the second. More anticipation was building.

"Begin!"

* * *

In the city of Vale, a silver-haired beauty sat up from the bed she laid. She yawned, stretching her arms out wide. She got up from bed, trying to be swift and quiet enough not to wake her sleeping partner. Silver watched the sleeping face of Qrow before deciding to stretch her legs some, they were so sore from their earlier activities.

"Oh!" She softly whispered to herself, "the Final Rounds should have started by now…"

Silver tried to find the remote for the TV in the bedroom, until she realized that she kicked it by accident near the nightstand. Quietly, she walked to the nightstand that was near Qrow and bent to pick it up.

Only to feel the stinging feeling of a hand with momentum on her rear end. She yelped a high pitched squeal, then hissed at the grinning culprit.

"I thought you were sleeping!" Her ears were folded backward, a little angry.

"And I thought that it was too perfect of an opportunity." Qrow chuckled, sitting up in bed, fully awake.

Her ears rested back to their original place, "but it hurt," her pouting face struck a cord in Qrow's heart before he opened his arms to her. She couldn't help but smile as she embraced him with the remote in her hand.

Qrow's hand gently caressed her head, softly speaking, "but you enjoyed it, right?"

Silver pouted again, "only a little." She broke from the embrace to point the remote at the tv to turn it on.

Qrow groaned, and not in the sexy way that Silver enjoyed. This one was the type that makes Silver want to pin him to the ground to eat dirt. "It's the finals! And you know how much I love the Festival!"

"Yeah, yeah." Qrow wrapped his arms around Silver's waist, watching the tv as she turned it to the Festival broadcast.

"So Firecracker started first, eh?" His set his head on her shoulder.

"Yup. Phoenix really has grown into a strong woman, hasn't she?"

Qrow smiled as they watched the fight progress, two people who seemed to be complete opposites. "She really has… sometimes she reminds me of my sister.."

Silver leaned further in his embrace, "...After all of these years… I had my own regrets... She isn't much older than Blake.. Yang.. probably cannot forgive me after all of these years…for doing to the same thing as Raven did to her.."

Qrow shrugged, "I wouldn't know. She's playing the dumb card regarding you. And you and Raven have your different reasons for leaving."

"Still doesn't make me any better than Raven, at least in Yang's eyes…" Silver watched the battle continue on, seeing the smile on Yang's face. "But she's like you in some ways, always ready for a fight."

Qrow scoffed, "You're like that as well. I know you were grinning like a fool underneath that veil of yours the other day. And might I say, you looked devilishly ravishing in that outfit." He held Silver closer to him, their naked bodies pressed together.

On the screen, Mercury Black had kicked Yang Xiao Long up in the air and down into the ground. The fight was thought to be won in the favor of Mr. Black, but when he turned to see his opponent with fiery red eyes and a grin of a devil, he knew he was in for it.

"There's my Phoenix." Silver stated.

Yang slammed her fists together and screamed her battle cry, dodging his kicks and bombarding Mercury with her fists. With one last, powerful punch landing on the stomach, his aura levels were down below the mark. She had won her match.

"Yang Xiao Long is the victor!" Oobleck announced.

"Yup, that's Firecracker alright." Qrow smiled, for once not annoyed with watching a match on TV. Usually he found it stupid, but he felt proud in this moment.

That was until he saw Yang's brutal force of her fist on the vulnerable knee of Mercury Black. Followed by the sound of something cracking, then the gasps of the audience.

Then the camera cut to utter blackness, with no warning.

Silver and Qrow sat still for several seconds, then quickly got up to get dressed.


	16. The Instincts of Harmony

They paced quickly to the room of Team RWBY, once they arrived to where they were residing, they saw two Atlesian Knights-200 guarding the room door. Silver glared at the animatronic being who had no souls to call their own, just puppets following their puppeteer's orders. The same puppeteer that was inside of the room.

"THAT"S ENOUGH!" A angrily stern voice yelled out, a voice that could only belong to one man, "Ironass," Silver whispered. They stepped closer to the door, the "Knights" just standing idly by. Silver eyed them for a while until Ironwood came out of the door. Her attention then rested on him.

"Silver… Qrow…."

"James…" Silver reciprocated his greeting. "May I ask what will be happening henceforth after this… incident?"

Ironwood sighed, "so you saw that. Unfortunately whenever things like this happen, even if it isn't usually in the student's nature to do something like this… they will have to be punished."

"So you're disqualifying them," She spoke this simple statement.

"I am. I have no choice but to."

"I understand," Silver nodded.

Ironwood nodded back before leaving the two alone in the hallway, the two Atlesian Knights following behind.

 _Like a king and his men. Psh, yeah right._

Voices continued within the room, and neither Silver nor Qrow could stop themselves from listening, "I had someone very dear to me change. It wasn't in an instant, it was gradual - little choices that began to pile up. He told me not to worry. At first they were accidents, then it was self-defense. Before long, even I began to think he was right...This is all just... very familiar...But you're not him. And you've never done anything like this before. So... I want to trust you. I _will_ trust you…."

Silver's heart dropped as she thought of the life that Blake and _He_ led without her guidance. Things that she could have changed had she just stayed with them, had she never leave anyone behind. There was so much that she did that could've prevented. But she didn't. She could never fix that wrong now. Not where it truly counted.

All but Yang of Team RWBY left the room, noticing the couple standing beside their door.

"Aunt Silver…" Blake looked at her aunt with a hurt look in her eyes as she tried to bury old memories.

"Hello Blake, Ruby, Weiss." She didn't address them by the nicknames she previously gave them, but by the names they were born with. She turned her head to see Team JNPR peaking out of their dorm door. All but one.

"Is she okay?" Jaune asked with concern.

"Yeah… she will be…" Ruby answered.

"This whole thing is just a mess." Weiss added.

Silver softly smiled at the teenagers, "I was told that Mr. Black went back to Haven to be with family. So until he is back home, we cannot question him about what had happened."

"Sil…" Qrow eyed her

"It's fine, Qrow. They have a right to know. It does concern their friend, and sister, after all. Until then... " Silver gestured if she could come in the room of Team JNPR. They obliged and moved aside for her to enter. Inside of the room was Pyrrha Nikos, sitting on top of her bed. Her thoughts were scattered, not on one single subject. Silver walked toward the red-haired warrior and crouched before her, getting her attention.

"Y-yes?" Pyrrha asked, hesitantly.

Silver held Pyrrha's hands in her own, "Good luck with your match; do well in representing Beacon. With honor and pride. No matter the outcome. Do it for Yang, your team, yourself, _ar' lle umbar._ "

With the same hesitant eyes as she had when they met underneath in the Vault, Nikos nodded, "I'll... try my best, ma'am."

Silver stood and set her hand on Pyrrha's shoulder before leaving the room. Qrow was no longer in the hallway, but in the room with Yang as he originally intended. He wanted to speak to her alone.

"Well, I think I've seen enough fighting for tonight." Blake stretched, not noticing Qrow's disappearance.

"Ditto." Weiss sighed "Coffee?"

"Tea. Aunt Silver would you like to come with us?"

Silver shook her head, "No thank you, sweetie. I have other matters to attend to." With that she left the dormitory and headed straight to the Vault, where she would find the Crystal in its Once-Shining glory.

The room was dark, light was nowhere to be seen not even a single shimmer. No sounds were heard, none but the relaxed breathing of a single being in this darkened room. There was no wind, no natural sounds.

The Crystal gradually glowed a dim white light, revealing Silver and her amethyst eyes, devoid of any emotion. Slowly her lips parted, and sound came from within.

 _A man had brought his lies_

 _Bringing others ill fortune_

 _A chance to live their lives_

 _But could not live immune_

She rolled her head and moved her body to turn it around, facing away from the Crystal.

 _Determined minds_

 _They tore them apart like wolves_

 _And all that was left behind_

 _Was their will for peace to stay_

A darker, lower and huskier voice was heard behind her.

" _Have you forgotten so easily?"_

 _We are you_

The smaller crystals of dust lit up like stars in the sky around their one, deteriorating moon. A voice similar to Silver's was heard as if the voice stood beside her.

" _We are the light that walks among you"_

 _We are you_

" _We are the animal instinct of harmony"_

 _We are you_

" _We witness when the day breaks anew"_

 _We are you_

" _We wish for peace to succeed"_

She stood silently looking down at her hand, thinking about all that her and her hands have done in the past. The many things they did and the things they failed to do.

 _A family that fell with no remorse_

 _Didn't bother to write a monody_

 _Burying the memory of the results_

 _The results bring back the memory_

 _No one had never a clue_

 _That one's sanity could be nullified_

 _When help was offered, they knew_

 _Any forgiveness would not be fully certified_

" _Have you forgotten so easily?"_

 _We are you_

" _We are the light that walks among you"_

 _We are you_

" _We are the animal instinct of harmony"_

 _We are you_

" _We witness when the day breaks anew"_

 _We are you_

" _We wish for peace to succeed"_

With one stroke of her hand, several of the smaller dust crystals dissipated into their dust form. She swung her arms around in a rhythmic form that brought the dust around her in their elemental forms. To an outsider looking in, it appeared that Silverstream was performing once more. Silver would agree with her audience being one single, large Dust Crystal.

 _We are you_

" _We are the light that walks among you"_

 _We are you_

" _We are the animal instinct of harmony"_

 _We are you_

" _We witness when the day breaks anew"_

 _We are you_

" _We wish for peace to succeed"_

The performance was finally over; Silver had felt that it lasted for her entire life. Her energy was drained, her semblance spent - she was exhausted. Whenever she sang her true emotions, all she wanted to do was cry. She never sang happier songs that rested in the deepest parts of her heart.

"We are you… you are us… what a load of bull." She scowled while sitting on the floor, leaning against the Crystal. "Some days I wonder why you bothered... _Atar_."


	17. What No One Did

The day was dwindling down, as the sun started leaving the sights of the people around. The bright blue skies were turning orange. Several airships were landing and some were leaving for the Amity Colosseum. One particular airship came from just there and landed, one particular huntsmen-in-training left the airship in a hurry.

Noir Harceleur just came from his match with Sun Wukong of Team SSSN. The match took longer than Noir anticipated, either from his worry over Yang or from Sun's strength. He didn't know which it was, but he didn't care. He won and that was all that mattered. But now, something else mattered more to him.

Team JNPR had left from the dormitories and made their way towards the airships that would take them to the Colosseum. Pyrrha walked with her head down, thinking to herself while her team leader tried various ways to cheer her up, even when his attempts continued to fail. Ren and Nora cheerfully smiled amongst each other. But once Nora noticed Noir, she stopped her skipping and greeted him.

"Hi! Hi! How did your match go?~" Nora smiled cheerfully.

Noir didn't answer her right away, and looked over at Nora as though taking a moment to figure out if he knew her or not. Once he was finished analyzing her, he spoke, "I won. I admit I wasn't focused, but that's hardly a concern…." For a moment he paused, and then said in a softer and less flat tone **, "** Where's Yang...is she okay?"

Ren and Nora looked at each other with saddened expressions. They searched for the right words to tell him, but Noir only grew more concerned than before.

"Yang… may need some more time.. To think." Ren finally answered.

Noir's eyes narrowed slightly at Ren, "About what, exactly?"

Nora stood in front of Noir to block his vision of Ren, afraid that the brooding boy was going to slug him in the face, "She was so freaked out about what had happened…"

Ren stepped to the side of Nora, looking at Noir, not wanting to back down from his narrowing gaze, "She just needs rest is all."

"I imagine so after something like that." Noir spoke rather bluntly and sighed slightly, "Regardless, I'd like to know she's okay…."

Ren tried to assure his upperclassman,"She'll be fine. She's strong. She just needs time… At least, that is what her teammates said. Even Miss Soteria thinks that…"

"I didn't see Ruby's Uncle with her. He was there then… poof! Gone." Nora added, shrugging it off.

"...I see." For a moment it appeared that he might heed their caution, "Regardless. I won't rest easy until I hear it from her." Resolved in his decision, he glanced over at Pyrrha, who appeared conflicted. "Are you alright? You look like you could use some space as well."

Pyrrha was surprised that he spoke to her, "Huh? Oh… I'm fine. Just… thinking!" She flashed him a smile that didn't look all too convincing that everything was okay to the winged boy, "and maybe Yang needs to talk this out with an unbiased opinion."

"...All the more reason for me to see her." Noir looked from one member of JNPR to the other. "Team JNPR, good evening." And with that he went around them to walk towards the Beacon Dorm Building.

They watched him walk away as Nora noticed something peculiar, "Did he just say 'good evening'?"

"He's nocturnal, Nora." Ren explained.

"He's an owl?!"

"Bat!" Noir was heard from a distance, even as far away as he got from the first-year team.

"Woooooah," Nora was more impressed with the fact that he heard him over the fact that he's a bat faunus. The wheels were turning in the red-head's head as she cupped over her mouth and shouted, "Raccoon!"

More angrily, Noir was heard, "I SAID BAT!"

Nora took great delight in this as she laughed, falling onto the floor. Jaune and Pyrrha were smiling softly as Ren shook his head.

"Sometimes… I fear you, Nora."

* * *

After the exchange with Team JNPR, Noir had proceeded into the dormitory. As he walked down the hall towards Team RWBY's dorm, he found himself hesitating for a moment, debating whether he should proceed. For moment he considered actually heeding Nora and Ren's advice. But he shook his head, and knocked softly on the door.

After several seconds, the door opened to reveal an expressionless Yang. "Noir? Hey, how did your match go?"

A small corki by the name of Zwei ran up to Noir to bark at him once, then nuzzle his leg. Noir wasn't bothered by the small animal, and gave a small smile to the loving animal before answering Yang's query. "I won. Wasn't a long fight, though I wasn't entirely focused." For a moment he was quiet, "I wanted to see you."

Yang scoffed at that statement, "Why would you want to do that? Everyone thinks I'm a monster. Or worse, crazy." She sat down on her teammate's bed, depressed.

Noir fully entered the dorm room, away from the regular door frame. He stood close by the upset Yang, leaning against the side of the bunks. He was lucky that the books that held up Yang's bed above Blake's stood so firm. "Monster? Crazy?" The mere thought of Yang being either of those things sounded ridiculous to him, "Please. If any of those people knew what either of those were, they'd be thinking a little differently."

"Maybe… but it doesn't change the fact that I did something horrible… and… I didn't even do it." She held her head in her hands, groaning, "Dust.. I'm even sounding crazy."

"Perhaps to a casual listener with no inkling of what kind of person you are." Noir sat next to her on Blake's bed, though not overly close; he knew caution was the way to go here. "I've learned that not everything is as it seems. And I know this much. You don't attack if there's no provocation."

"Noir, I got my team disqualified! I broke my promise to you…" She sighed before Noir could calm her, "but that's the least of my problems now…"

"What makes you say that?" Noir raised an eyebrow slightly.

Finally she raised her head to look over to Noir, "Remember when the whole Mountain Glen thing went down?"

"I doubt there's a soul in Beacon who doesn't, I was there…" He paused after this and then his expression went from confused to curious **.** "Why?"

"I almost died that day. I should have died that day… but someone saved me."

"That someone being…?"

"My mother."

Noir thinks this over; not knowing much about Yang's family history, so he couldn't quite understand why this was a momentous thing, but Yang's tone told him plenty. "I'm guessing here...but is she rather...isolated?"

"I never really met her. When I was born she just gave me to my dad and left. But… I saw her. I felt that that was her. And today… My uncle, her brother, confirmed it…"

For a very long moment Noir is silent; on one hand he's angry that Yang's mother would treat her this way. Yet another part of him sympathized with Yang's view of the matter, though his reason why is entirely his own. "So in short, and I'm only guessing, you probably have a lot of questions." He adds in a softer tone, "I know I would. And I imagine this entire thing...Dust, it'd mess with anyone."

Very abruptly Yang stood up angrily, remembering the conversation between her and Qrow. "She said that that would be the only time she'll save me! Am I really nothing to her?! Just a… just a…" Her lip quivered, unable to finish the statement that dwelled in her mind.

From her response, Noir immediately stood and placed a hand on her shoulder. "No" His tone is firm, but not angry or aggressive, "You're not. No parent thinks so little of a child, least of all a mother." He continued in a softer tone, "Some parents simply have different ideas of how a child should grow. Perhaps…" He hesitated, knowing well that he's on very dangerous ground. "...she feels that in order to truly grow, as both a person and a Huntress, you probably need to experience things for yourself." He trailed off for a moment and then looked away for a moment, slightly embarrassed **.** "I know I did."

She pushed back her threatening tears, taking a large deep breath, "Qrow said that he'd help me find her… I need.. To properly meet her. To talk to her. Like a mother and daughter should." She glanced out of the window, up at the breaking moon. "That's all I ever wanted… my mom…"

Her threatening tears combined with her tone touched Noir on a level he's never felt before, and as he stands there, hand still on her shoulder, he thinks for a moment before saying softly, "It's your right….I don't blame you." He removed his hand from her shoulder asked, "Do you want my advice?"

Yang turned to look at him, slightly smiling, "I'll take whatever I can get."

For a moment he's silent, these pauses admittedly becoming repetitive even to him, "Follow your instincts. Oftentimes, they're what can save you from death. It's something these teachers never tell you. They tell you to think, to strategize. And yes, it is valuable to have strategy, but it won't do you much good if you can't act quickly, so…" He shook his head a bit, grinning a little sheepishly. "All I'm saying is, do what you _feel_ is right."

Instinctively, she jumped over to Noir for a large hug, sustaining it for several seconds, "Thank you, Noir…"

His eyes widened for a moment as Yang hugs him, and after a bit he returns it, gently. "I'm always happy to help, Yang… If you ever need anything… I'm not far away."

Yang slowly pushed away from the hug, to look into Noir's red eyes, "of course."

Noir finally smiled fully as he stands there, taking a moment to look Yang in the eyes. Not in his usual searching and piercing manner, but now a friendlier and familiar manner. After a moment he turns to leave, and just as he's about to walk out he looks back at her and said what no one else did. "You fought well. Regardless of what happened afterwards, you earned your victory."

And with that he exited the room.


	18. Chaos of the Tulgey Wood

On the small screen of her scroll, Silver watched the live footage for the Vytal Tournament. She was still in the Vault, in a room away from the Crystal. It was an empty room with only a desk and chair. The room had once been fully empty until Silver's influence on the unused room. Had she stayed at Beacon as a teacher, a career path she seriously considered, she would have made this particular room her private office. With a computer and files and everything to make this room a real office.

"The first contender of our next fight will be…Penny Polendina from Atlas! And her opponent will be… Pyrrha Nikos from Beacon!"

Silver smirked, "It really has become a _PvP_ , hasn't it?"

The camera panned over to the Nikos girl's face, hesitant and distracted. Her heart wasn't fully into the idea of the tournament, not like it was before. Silver's smirk died down as she witnessed such a somber face. Someone with youth such as Pyrrha deserved to smile and enjoy life. Only one in that ring was acting as such. Penny Polendina had her arms at her hips, her smile beaming with happiness and excitement. Even introducing herself to Pyrrha, not fully understanding that her opponent was fighting a battle within her own heart.

"It's not fair to you, _nessa er_. What a burden your shoulders have to bare…"

She shut her scroll off, not wanting to see Pyrrha's face in such a way, remembering the feeling of holding that girl in her arms. Her trembling shoulders, the horror in her eyes, the pain, the frustration. It made Silver's heart break.

" _Manka ere' amin tinu nae sinome yassen amin,_ " she spoke in a language only a select few knew. Not all understood her words, not even her own romantic partner. At times, she would do this purposefully. Other days she did so without thinking, the words falling out of her mouth. Today was one of those days.

Silver glanced back over to the scroll on the desk. It beckoned her to view the match that was progressing. A force that she allowed herself to give into, taking the scroll in hand, entering her secure password, and viewing the livestream of the tournament she held dear in her heart. The same tournament that truly brought Qrow into her life.

It would be a shame if it were to be ruined for her for a long time. Or the rest of her life.

* * *

Pyrrha was pushed back onto the floor by Penny Polendina. Rolling back onto her feet, her sword and shield were knocked away from her from Penny's blades. This caught the girl off guard thus instinctively, she used her polarity semblance to bring them back to her hands. Penny so far had been the toughest opponent Pyrrha had to face in combat. She was impressed by Penny's aptitude in battle. And Penny felt the same way about Pyrrha.

Another floating blade was thrown to Pyrrha, forcing her hand to use her semblance to send the blade back at the orange-haired girl. Penny twirled her hand to gain back full control over the blade. She brings out the seven others, ready to strike at her, pausing for some sort of dramatic effect. Penny for once was going to enjoy this match as long as she could, being that her last match was rushed from her teammate, Ciel's, doing.

In the eyes of the red-haired Pyre of Rue, the blades doubled then tripled, multiplying into an army's amount of blades, all ready to strike her down. Horrified, Pyrrha steps back, trying to calm her nerves. The large amount of blades rained down at Pyrrha, the only option she felt she had left was to cross her arms to send out a shockwave of magnetism, pushing back all types of metal.

Even the unexpected android girl.

Penny's arms were spread wide open, the invisible strings connected to the 'floating' blades twirled around her left arm and her midsection. The force was so strong that the strings crumpled each section easily. The wires then easily sliced through her body, revealing what made her different than the other huntsmen in the stadium. While they have veins, muscles and blood, she had electronic wires and metal coverings. This was made apparent to all that witnessed this new tragedy. Her green irises dilate like that of a camera, now lifeless and empty. The first synthetic life form capable of generating an aura… was no more.

* * *

Qrow ran to the elevator that allowed him to get to the vault, frantic and pacing in the long elevator. He knew Ozpin saw him enter it, and they both knew where he was going.

Qrow paced back in forth, his sword at his back as insurance, but his hands in front of him as if he didn't know what to do with them. Put them behind his back? In his pant pockets? Interlocked together? He didn't know, his heart raced wildly. Only one thing was on his mind.

When he finally arrived at the bottom, in the Vault, he ran to the Sanctuary of the Crystal. He was about to open his mouth, but found no one within the room. His heart still beated wildly like a drum, thinking where else he could go.

"There's not enough time," he ran, going anywhere and everywhere within the Vault that he could think of. He tried several rooms and found no one in any of them. But then he thought to stop running and just _listen._

" _This is_ _ **not**_ _a tragedy. This was_ _ **not**_ _an accident. This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety, your children, to men who claim to be our guardians, but are, in reality, nothing more than men."_ It was a younger female's voice over an electronic device. It was closer than what Qrow had thought and followed the voice.

The voice continued, " _Our Academies' Headmasters wield more power than most armies, and one was audacious enough to control cling to this power in the name of peace, and yet, what do we have here? One nation's attempt at a synthetic army, mercilessly torn apart by another's star pupil. What need would Atlas have for a soldier disguised as an innocent little girl?"_

Finally, he found the room of a single desk and chair, with a silver-haired woman ontop of it, scroll in hand. " _I don't think the Grimm can tell the difference."_ She was watching the livestream of the festival, just as Qrow was.

Silver's eyes were widened in horror, her body stiff and shook with fear. She had watched the events unveil before her, the cameras still not off, the livestream still continuing on. Qrow slowly walked up to her, her back facing him. He set a gentle hand on her shoulder, "Sil?"

She couldn't hear him, only the voice of the woman who Silver knew was Amber's assailant. " _And what, I ask you, is Ozpin teaching his students? First a dismemberment, now this? Huntsmen and Huntresses should carry themselves with honor and mercy, yet I have witnessed neither."_

From this, Silver turned to look at the man who held much love for her. Her eyes were watery, struggling to fight back the tears that threatened her. The veteran Huntsmen moved his hand to wipe away the tears of the Huntress, encouraging her to stand and fight against the grief and sadness she was feeling inside. Each new death broke her more than before, her own post-traumatic stress flaring within her mind.

She stood from her seat, Qrow could see the look on her face, the one that showed whenever her resolve was formed once more. He knew she was going to be okay.

They ran to the elevator, the livestream on Silver's scroll was still on. She didn't want to miss whatever it was that this woman wanted to say, it was all they could do for now as the elevator lifted them up from the Vault to Ozpin's office.

" _Perhaps Ozpin felt as though defeating Atlas in the Tournament would help people forget his colossal failure to protect Vale when the Grimm invaded its streets. Or perhaps this was his message to the tyrannical dictator that has occupied an unsuspecting kingdom with armed forces. Honestly, I haven't the slightest clue as to who is right and who is wrong. But I know the existence of peace is fragile, and the leaders of our kingdoms conduct their business with iron gloves."_

Qrow punched the moving elevator, angry and annoyed with the unknown woman, "we have done the way we did because we wanted to protect the people of Remnant. Yes, Ironwood screwed him over the security issue, but damn, at least he was trying! We all were…"

Silver looked down at the red screen of a black queen chess piece, "yet it all didn't matter in the end…"

"We still have some secrets that are worth protecting, things we've done that still does matter."

"Of course…" She didn't sound so sure.

" _As someone who hails from Mistral, I can assure you the situation there is... equally undesirable. Our Kingdoms are on the brink of war, yet we, the citizens, are left in the dark."_

Silver's ears popped up, enough to protrude from her headpiece. She removed it, allowing her sensitive ears to hear a group of stampeding lifeforms. There were a large amount of whatever was thumping their way, towards the school.

" _So I ask you: When the first shots are fired... who do you think you can trust?"_

The livestream was cut to darkness.

"Grimm"

* * *

The elevator doors finally opened, Silver's headpiece back on top of her head. The couple had run into Glynda Goodwitch, and they made their way to Ozpin. Glynda and Qrow the only two running. Silver slightly behind them with her arms crossed and her weight shifted on one leg.

"Oz!"

"Get to the city!" Ozpin commanded with a level head, something a leader always needed in times of crisis.

"But-" Qrow was cut off by Ozpin's resolute voice.

" _NOW!"_

The three Huntsmen exchanged glances, yet only two turned to head into the city. They passed Silver by, her emotionless eyes never leaving Ozpin's back. Qrow felt that no matter what he'd say to her, she would not back down. She had business with Ozpin, and it couldn't wait. So he left the two alone, going with Glynda into the city.

Ozpin sighed and turned to his desk, where his scroll lie. Silver took several causal steps closer to him as he touched the name 'James Ironwood' to call. It took only one ring for him to answer.

"Ozpin, the girl… I-I can explain!" His voice was stammering, in the background Silver could hear the screams of all who were at the Colosseum.

Ozpin didn't want to hear an explanation about the synthetic girl, that didn't matter at this moment. All that mattered was the safety of the people.

"You brought your army to my Kingdom, James." He spoke gravely and not willing to hear any sort of excuse for anything. "Use it". He hung up before James could say anything else to him, anything that could seem like an excuse.

"He truly has been… 'misguided'." Silver used air quotation marks to mock the Headmaster of the attacked school.

"Enough, Ziya." Silver hit a soft spot concerning this matter.

She expression softened, "Now, you cannot deny my request."

He scoffed, "We're having this conversation _now?"_

"Yes. We are. Ozpin, I beseech you, accept my request. Allow it to stay in safer hands."

Ozpin was silent for a moment, truly thinking it over. If something happened to the school, or to him, it would be in _Her_ hands. On the other hand, if the school stayed strong and still, then she would bring it back. No harm would come to it. It would stay safe.

"... Fine. Do it. Then head straight to the city, protect the citizens."

Silver was hesitant, "What about Amber and th-?"

"I'll take care of it. Now go."

She nodded, "I'll.. see you later."

"Yes, you will."

" _Lantatar…_ "

" _Nessatinu_ , do not argue with me. Now please, Silver. Go."

Silver brought her fist to her chest and bowed before leaving to the elevator, back into the Vault. As she waited within the Vault, she interlocked her fingers and prayed for the safety of all who were fighting outside of these walls.


	19. Prayer of Clemency

Within the walls of the Headmaster's office, Ozpin stared at his several monitors in horror. Never did he wish to see students from not only his own school, but from the other schools, to fight Grimm of this magnitude. Never did he wish to see unarmed civilians who couldn't help themselves wave for help, stuck on a rooftop, as an Ursa came up for them. Never did he wish to see his city fall to the ground in flames.

His heart broke from the sights that befell on his eyes. He could not stand such sights; no matter what he had gone through in the past, it never could aid him for future events to come - such as this one. The same could be said of his _nessatinu_ ; the pain from before can never end the pain of the after.

 _But it doesn't mean I can't do something of the now._

He glanced over to his cane leaning on his desk and with resolve, grabbed it as he began leaving towards the elevator - knowing what he must do in order to save all and any.

He took several steps away from his desk when a sudden tremor began shaking the ground. His eyes widening from the thought of what was causing it. He knew what it was and feared it so, the situation was going to be more dire than before.

* * *

Silver emerged from a space of white and blue into the torn battlefield of Grimm and Animatronic. In horror, her eyes gazed across the unsightly scene. Buildings and streets torn apart by this Battle of Beacon. Her heart filled with dread, her mind raced with the darkest of thoughts.

 _Fire_

 _Smoke_

 _Tears_

 _The smell of burning flesh_

 _The touch of warm blood_

 _The sound of a thousand cries_

 _The taste of her own blood_

 _The sight of sorrow._

A blob of utter nothingness fell before her, her mind snapping back into the present, her attention fully toward it. The sound of a fierce roar followed after. She knew this roar well. She knew this blob of grimm well. She knew. She knew. She knew.

A clawed hand flew out of the pit of darkness that was created, pushing itself out of the shadow. Its body of a black wolf and scales of bone at its back. The Beowolf roared at her, similar to that of its parent. Similar to its Dragon Mother. She was not afraid of this monster, but the monster it came from.

She produced her weapon, _Ithilsalkar,_ to her hand in its sword dancing form. Silver felt sorrow in the pit of her stomach and rage in her heart.

" _Ten'lle hiraetha amin kyerma…"_ She drew near it as it was still trying to remove itself from the abyss it was born from.

" _Lle awra karne lle sina."_ It freed itself and roared at her once more. Her steps never faltering, never stopping.

" _Sii' lle caela natula amin,"_ Her feet stopped, she was so close to it. He had the opportunity to lunge for her, but instead stood there, watching her.

" _Ikotane amin sana lle hiraetha."_ The tip of _Ithilsalkar_ 's blade now pointed to the Beowolf. He snarled more menacingly to her now and lunged after her - the one who dared point her blade at him.

In one swift motion, the form of _Ithilsalkar_ elongated, wrapping itself around his neck. He tried his damndest to release himself from the blade's grip, but to no avail. It wasn't tight enough to hurt him, but enough to keep him from moving wherever he wished. It was as if he was a caged animal, always at the ready for his master.

Behind him, the barrel of Silver's gun was pressed on the back of his head. His struggling ended at the sound of a single bullet.

" _Ar' leitha lle tuulo' lle awra."_


	20. The Garden

The battle had only began an hour ago, yet to Lynn it felt much longer. She could only think that her friends and fellow classmates felt the same way. Students like Weiss Schnee, Sun Wukong and Flynt Coal fought side by side. Even if they came from different countries and different schools in Remnant, they stood beside one another today as a single unit. A singular Kingdom that is Humanity itself.

Yet Lynn did not believe any of those who stood with her in the courtyard of the school had yet adjusted to the idea of things no longer being… "peaceful". They dealt with it the best they could, thinking on only fighting against those who threatened the Light of Beacon. Lynn was no different than the others by this. She, too, enjoyed the time of peace that they lived in. Now that there were those who threatened that peace, people like the White Fang and Roman Torchwick.

Lynn pointed her double bladed guns at the Ursa that charged itself at Neptune Vasilias. Her bullets were only irritating it rather than damaging it, never straying from its original path. It's target was busy fending against a Beowolf, oblivious to the Ursa that was running to his left.

The small huntress-in-training panicked. She could not scream to her friend, to tell him to watch out for the Ursa that was making its way to him. If she just screamed, it would only distract him from the Beowolf he was dealing with. If she did one thing, it would bring about another consequence all together. Her lack of audible communication was the reason why she refused to be on a team with anyone.

She holstered her one gun to her belt on her hip to fold the other in a straight blade. Extending her thumb, she calculated where her makeshift javelin would go onto the Ursa's body. She pulled her arm back, a quick forward, and a release. The tiny javelin made contact with the main body of the Ursa.

Underneath her feet, white glyphs appeared along with Weiss Schnee. With a small flick of the heiress's rapier, Lynn's speed increased dramatically, the glyphs following her along the way. The Ursa didn't notice her small body until she became close to it. She grabbed her tiny blade and pulled it out of the Grimm's body, forcing a loud shriek out of the Grimm.

She jumped onto the Ursa's back and folded both of her bladed guns the other way around into two bladed tonfas. _Auraes_ , her trusted weapons - double tonfas and double guns, quick and deadly. Just like herself. She performed a back handspring off the Ursa's head, landing right in front of it. With a devilish smirk she said her goodbyes with an X slice on its neck.

Weiss witnessed the death of the Ursa and gave a thumbs up and smile to the "cinnamon roll". Lynn replicated the gesture.

Above them, a small gliding figure was making its way down to the ground. It did not take long for Lynn to notice but when she did her eyes widened. She had only heard whispers, but nothing to confirm her fears. But in the end, did she really want to know?

She could not allow herself to let this opportunity pass. So she followed.

* * *

Neopolitan checked her scroll the second she landed safely on the ground. She believed in her partner's ability to take care of a single, red-hooded, 15 year old brat. But she couldn't help but worry. This same brat had been a thorn on their side for a while, always trying to thwart their plans. But, as Roman would put it, it makes things a lot more fun that way.

 _How badly did you beat her?_

She sent the message, smirking as she did so. Afterwards, she looked around the area she landed at - a large garden of a different assortment of flowers that seemed to be left untouched by the flames. _How upsetting_ , Neo thought to herself. If she had the ability to produce a flamethrower in her hands, she would just to set these flowers aflame. Neo hated the sight and smell of flowers, they reminded her too much of things she would rather forget.

She heard the ruffling of foliage; someone was making their way to her. She turned around, hoping it was her partner. Instead of being greeted by a taller male with orange hair and a bowler hat, she was greeted by one who was half his size, brown hair, and no hat.

They were at eye level with one another; The pink one with furrowed eyebrows and the green one with tears welling up in her eyes. Neo twirled her umbrella that was propped on her shoulder - her night went from exciting to irritating in a matter of seconds. While Lynn heard some whispers about Neo, Neo heard nothing about Lynn. She had hoped her to be back in Mistral - where _he_ would be.

Neo's eyes turned from one pink, one brown to both being white, staring down the girl who had two icy blue eyes. The same eyes as _Her_ , or at least that was what they were told when they were young.

The Leaf took one step towards the Flower; the Flower taking one step back in return. Neo wanted to keep the distance between them, keeping Lynn away from her. Another step forward, and another step back. Lynn held out her hand to the one who bore a striking resemblance to herself. She was replied by a single gesture - a middle finger.

This made Lynn chuckle, catching Neo off guard. She didn't want to be reminded anymore of anything before the _incident_. Neo lifted her umbrella off her shoulder and pointed it at her green mirrored self. Lynn's eyes widened; she could tell that this was no joke from the look in Neo's eyes.

The Flower saw the hesitation in the Leaf's eyes. She noticed a small patch of lily of the valley flowers and struck them with her umbrella. The small, white, bell-shaped flowers detached from the ground, dying out on the surface.

Lynn closed her eyes, a single tear falling out before opening them with resolve. The Flower had fallen from it's stem, far away from the Leaf. The Dirt, the foundation of the plant had been long gone. There was no Garden anymore, only broken pieces of it. This, Lynn had to accept.

Without a second thought, Lynn unholstered her double tonfas lifting them up to her waist, readying herself for the fight to begin. Neo stood still, waiting to see what Lynn would do first. Neither moved for some time. Both seemed to hesitate with the idea of fighting the other. But they knew it had become inevitable now.

The Leaf charged at the Flower; the Flower charging at the Leaf. Lynn swung her blades down vertically, Neo deflecting the attack with her now closed umbrella in a horizontal position. Neo pushed her umbrella upward, stunning Lynn for a second. A second was all Neo need to give the Leaf a roundhouse kick to the gut, pushing Lynn back a few feet.

Lynn's hands clutched her weapons tightly; never letting them go. She ran back at Neo, striking her again. Neo deflecting once more then attacking her opponent. This time Lynn dodged then attacked her opponent. They found each other's patterns without much difficulty, one striking, the other deflecting. The two were in sync, understanding what the other would do next. Their minds were melded together, connected yet separated, evenly matched with one another. They were the Yin to the other's Yan; the sun to the other's rain; the water to the other's soil; the Leaf to the other's Flower.

Lynn ran up onto Neo's umbrella, her tonfas in their gun position. Growling, Neo pushed the small creature off of her precious umbrella. Twirling it behind her back did she noticed that Lynn's pistols were still pointing in her direction. Quickly, Neo crouched down with the umbrella facing Lynn once more. Lynn didn't want to hurt this opponent of hers, nor did she want her opponent to run away. She didn't fully understand why she still used her weapons in their gun mode - it just felt… right. It felt as if they were able to say the things she couldn't.

The rapid firing of bullets ceased, she had expelled all that she had. Yet the umbrella didn't move, it just stood still. Cursing her stupidity, Lynn walked up to it and gave the umbrella a gentle kick for it to shatter into a million pieces. Neo had made her escape. Where? Lynn had no idea.

"Neo," Lynn whispered. It was the only word she could ever say since the accident. It was the one thing she held closer to her heart than anything. But the one who she held close to her heart was on the side of darkness and destruction. Full of crime and hatred for the world they live in that they needed to create chaos. Chaos that Lynn helped create in Neo's world.


	21. The Spark

Blake had separated from Weiss to divide and conquer the enemies of Vale, running into the walls of the dining hall from a hole in the wall. She fought Grimm and Knights along her way, just like her aunt had taught her. The days where the three of them would be out in the wilderness learning different kinds of flora, fauna and Grimm. There they learned how to survive and protect themselves as well as each other. Her and the boy she loved since childhood.

But that boy was no more. In place of the boy she once knew was the man that stood before her now. A man who no longer showed kindness and peace that he did years ago. Adam Taurus eyes his Beauty with a grin curving on his lips.

"Hello, my love," The red-haired Bull-Faunus took a single step closer to his love, trying to close the gap between the two. Yet the black-haired Cat-Faunus took a step away from her personal nightmare, wanting more space in between.

Adam tsked, "Running away again? Is this what you've become? A coward? My, you two are more alike than I thought. You're truly becoming more and more like _Her_. So… disappointing."

Blake stood still, a single question roared in her head, "Why? Why are you doing this?"

He scoffed, "You have to ask? I am merely picking up the baton, doing what she couldn't. And you were supposed to be here beside me!" His voice roared through the dining hall, despite the noises outside these walls.

"We were supposed to change the world together! To light the Fires of Revolution! All of this-" He opened his arms to gesture towards the destruction and chaos that encircled them.

"-Is just the Spark."

Adam noticed the hesitation in Blake's eyes, "Are you going to run again? Or will you come back to me and stand by my side, my love?"

A choice. One that only Blake could make and the idea of running sounded better than standing by his genocidal path. But the idea of running didn't sit well within her soul any better than being by Adam once more. She thought what _she_ would do - and was reminded of their conversation previously.

 _The silver haired woman set her teacup back onto the table inside of the tea establishment that she recently discovered. To the untrained eye, she appeared calm and serene within her tranquil surroundings. Yet her heart was anything but. Her eyes revealed all that her heart needed to say. The young woman who sat across of the table, with her own teacup in hand, knew the Silver-hair felt troubled._

" _So, that's the path he has chosen."_

 _The young Belladonna girl nodded solemnly, "I'm afraid so. And I didn't help him any. I let things happen the way they did."_

 _Silver Soteria shook her head at her_ brother's _daughter, "No. You are not responsible for what he does, or what he has done. If anyone is responsible, it's me."_

 _Blake didn't seem to be convinced as she lifted her cup to her lips, her thoughts taking her away from her body. They ran wild with the emotions she felt inside from the past she tried to leave behind. It wasn't until she felt a warm hand caress her cheek that her body and mind merge into one again._

" _Blake, he are all responsible for ourselves and ourselves only. We move on our own path. No one else's."_

 _The hand left the young woman's cheek, her yellow eyes gazing into the amethyst ones that beheld such wisdom. However…_

" _You've just contradicted yourself, Aunt Silver." Blake chuckled as she lifted an eyebrow at her aunt's previous statement._

 _Silver smirked and momentarily tilted her head to one side, lifting her eyebrows at the same time. Signaling a "you-got-me-there" gesture, "Being a parent is different. You're responsible for the upbringing of your child. In this case, I was responsible for Addie's upbringing. But I failed him. I left the both of you and so much more."_

 _Blake felt troubled over hearing the one topic she couldn't bring up with her aunt. Her aunt had left her as well as Adam when they were young. Adam knew more about what was happening than she did. But neither knew exactly why his_ Mother _, her aunt was leaving them. The young boy was left in the care of her brother, Arun Belladonna, until he was of age to live on his own. "Why?" She asked hoarsely, on the brink of shedding tears._

" _I had lost so many people. And I kept losing them before I needed to. When Summer died, I felt responsible. I didn't - couldn't - save her. I left a man wiveless and two girls motherless. I couldn't handle it. I left Qrow, a man I truly love, to run away from my shame. At that time I felt cursed. Everyone around me was doomed to an ill-fate. It took a long time for me to finally accept this but… In reality, I was afraid. So I pushed everyone away to save myself from the sorrow of losing them. Slowly, I'm getting better at these things. I'm speaking about my old team more, little by little._

 _Yet I still pushed my own son away… and now? He's become…. Something different. And I am to blame."_

 _Blake was speechless, she had no words to say to Silver. She had practiced what she would say had she reunited with her aunt again, but now? It made more sense and her anger about the matter was no more. Not even a sliver existed. She felt tormented that Silver felt responsible for Adam's actions. But at the same time she felt at peace for knowing the true reason her idol left her._

 _That idol was not finished speaking and gave her niece the warmest smile Blake had felt from her in the years they've been apart. "You left a lifestyle you couldn't muster and are on a path much better than his. I couldn't be more proud. You hold bravery in your heart to do what is right, not only for our people, but for yourself as well. Don't make the mistakes I did, my_ Nekomata _. Don't run away."_

She came to her conclusion, "Neither."

With a newfound resolve, the Nekomata reached over her back for Gambol Shroud. Displaying her weapon to him only made him angrier than he already was. It was the act of defiance that Adam dreaded from his love. An act of courage that could allow Blake to finally feel pride in her heart.

"I am not running."

Adam brandished his own weapon, Wilt and Blush, to the woman who broke his heart. "You will," he threatened, "but not until you suffer for your betrayal, my love."

Their swords clashed.

* * *

Not only had the Grimm grown in numbers from the bowels of Darkness within its Dragon Mother, but also the Atlesian Knights were under control of the Queen's pawns, attacking those who fought against the Grimm. The amount of enemies the Huntsmen had for this night wouldn't stop growing.

Silver had reconvened with Qrow and Glynda after her 'errand' had been concluded. With her weapon in hand she, alongside her beloved, fought to keep this Beacon of Hope alive. The blade of Qrow's broadsword bent down ninety degrees to reveal the rifle barrel of the gun portion of his weapon. Following his lead, Silver pulled out her pistol from her left thigh holster. Together they aimed and shot at the nearest Knight that came to each other. They took a single glance over to one another with a devilish grin on their face. Both found these robotic "Knights" to be nothing more than pieces of barely-sentient garbage. For them, this moment was highly cathartic.

One Knight stood far behind Silver and aimed its gun at her back while her attention was elsewhere. Instinctively, Glynda turned her head over to witness the animatronic's intent. Before the Huntress could save her collegue, the head of the Knight was blown off of its body from a single bullet. Half a second later, more bullets flew to take down the half dozen Knights that remained. Simultaneously, Silver and Qrow whirled a full 180 to see who had ruined their personal therapy.

"Ironass", Silver pouted.

Qrow smiled smiled at his girlfriend's pouting, giving her a small pat on her back.

James Ironwood's clothing was tattered to shreds, his torso was practically bare, revealing his half flesh, half cybernetic chest. He used his hand to fix his graying, disheveled hair to appear more professional in a setting such as this.

"I wonder if he looks like that after an _us_ drinking session", Silver thought aloud. Qrow wondered about this as well.

Ironwood narrowed his eyes at Silver as he put his revolver back into its holster. "If you're done… this area is now secure. We need to-"

"Excuse me?" The atmosphere around Silver changed drastically, surprising only Ironwood.

"S-Sil" Ironwood stammered, trying to calm the silent angry woman.

"Don't come here trying to run everything as if-"

"I didn't do this!"

"Don't you know that I fucking know that?! But a synthetic girl, James? Did you have such little faith in us to not say anything about her? You were going to put the burdens of war on that girl? Synthetic or no, she was still an innocent child. She still would have been affect!"

He stood there, not fully willing to speak against her, so he kept silent until her lecture was over. "I-I know that now… We just… didn't have time. I thought his was the best way."

She shook her head in disappointment, prompting Qrow to ask what their next plan of action should be.

"Someone has done the impossible and taken control of my machines," James stated, obviously irritated about this simple fact.

"Honestly, it's easier than you think", Silver commented with her arms crossed. They all glanced over at her with lifted eyebrows.

She shrugged at their curiosity, "Virus. They are machines still."

"Riiiight," Ironwood cleared this throat and began giving assignments to his fellow Huntsmen before him. Glynda was assigned to create a safe zone within Vale to evacuate the people within Beacon. Qrow was tasked, alongside Ironwood's forces, to quell the Dragon Grimm's rage. And James dared not to tell Silver what to do after her angry lecture.

She smiled after feeling superior to the frightened general, "I'm going to go to Ozpin. If he's doing what I think he's doing, he's going to need help."

James nodded, "and I need to get to my ship."

Not too long after those words left his lips did the four Huntsmen hear a loud sound. The source was the General's ship in the sky nose diving into the ground.

Silver pursed her lips, "Why the fuck do you get the easier jobs?"

James rolled his eyes, "I doubt it would be easy with both my machines and Grimm around. _Alone_."

Several more Atlesian Knights surrounded the Huntsmen for another attack before shutting down completely. The destruction of James Ironwood's ship had shut down all of the Atlesian robotics' systems to a complete halt.

They all stood still for several heartbeats before Glynda spoke up, "I now share Silver's irritation."

* * *

Adam Taurus kicked Blake away, making her fall on her back. Her body was tired, sweat trickling down her face. She was growing weary. Yet Adam continued advancing towards her, his breathing steady. He had grown stronger than Blake could ever in the time they had been apart.

His anger flared; it was the source of his current power, "This could have been our day! Our gleaming moment of glory for the Faunus race! For our people! Can't you see that?"

Frantically, she shook her head, trying to throw the idea of embracing his day from her mind. "I never wanted _this!_ I wanted peace! Equality! The ideals we were raised to uphold!"

Desperately, she lifted herself to her knees to grab her sword, folding it into its sickle form. She shot at her childhood friend thrice with her eyes closed. Much to her dismay he had blocked and harnessed the energy of the bullets with his sword. He continued to creep towards her like a predator stalking its prey.

"What you want is impossible! Those ideals of hers are too optimistically unrealistic!"

He was mere inches from her as he knocked her down with a back hand to the face. Her body sprawled out on the floor, her weapon out of hand. Slowly, she picked herself back up to sit up, her nightmare looming over her as he reveled in his internal misery.

"I no longer yearn for Mother, nor your father's acceptance of me. I can do without those things - yet all I want is you, Blake."

Her amber eyes widened as she wrapped those words around her mind. Adam had sought for the Mother that left him years ago. He sought acceptance from Arun Belladonna, the leader of the White Fang at the time; to see him as a possible heir of the White Fang. He was hurt when he was overlooked on many an occasion. But now, he no longer needed it. That desire was replaced by the desire of the possession of Blake.

Frightened by this, she tried to reach for her gun - yet was denied with Adam's foot pinning her hand to the floor.

"But it seems that you just won't stop betraying me, Blake Belladonna _en'_ Soteria. And you will see the error of your ways. Once I have delivered the justice mankind so greatly deserves, I will make it my mission to destroy those who keep you from me."

"...ke."

A voice. A single voice rang through all four of Blake's ears; one so familiar and loving. One who she knew would come, yet she didn't want that one here. Not now. Not after hearing Adam's declaration of commitment.

"Blake!" The voice yelled for her name once more. A voice Blake knew could only belong to that of Yang Xiao Long, her partner and friend.  
He knew the sparkle that gleamed in Blake's eyes. It was the same that would gaze upon him when they were young. A flicker of a spark that ignited the flames of love within his being, that gave him motivation to bring happiness to their people. Adam had only wished that he could see that sparkle when she gazed upon him. Yet that was not to come - not yet. Not until he dealt with the one who captivated her from him.

He knew what he must do.


End file.
